"26th  Congress, 
1st  Session. 


Doc.  No.  158. 


STEAMBOAT  OWNERS— NEW  YORK,  AND  LONG  ISLAND 

SOUND. 


MEMORIAL 

OF  V,, 

SUNDRY  PROPRIETORS  AND  MANAGERS  OP  AMERICAN 

STEAMVESSELS, 

ON 

"The  impolicy  and  injustice  of  certain  enactments  contained  in  the  law  re- 
lating to  steamboats,  and  asking  to  be  restored  to  the  rights  and  privi- 
leges which  belong  to  other  citizens  engaged  in  navigation. 


March  30,  1840. 

Referred  to  the  Committee  on  Commerce,  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 


To  the  honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled: 

The  memorial  of  the  undersigned,  proprietors,  managers,  and  agents,  of 

American  steamvessels, 

.Respectfully  showeth  : 

That,  for  several  years,  your  memorialists  have  been  actively  engaged  in 
steam  navigation :  and  that,  in  thus  employing  a  power  which  is  univer- 
sally known  and  acknowledged  to  be  hazardous  in  its  nature  and  use,  they 
claim  to  have  afforded  and  maintained  a  degree  of  security,  in  the  trans- 
portation of  persons  and  property,  which  has  not  been  equalled  by  any  other 
known  means  of  transport  or  navigation.  This  important  fact,  so  contrary 
to  public  apprehension,  we  trust  will  appear  from  the  annexed  documents, 
and  also  from  any  just  and  accurate  comparison  of  the  average  losses  and 
casualties  by  steam  with  the  average  losses  and  casualties  which  occur  in 
other  modes  of  navigation  or  transport. 

For  these  results,  which  are  on  the  whole  so  favorable,  the  public  are  not 
indebted  to  incentives  furnished  by  pecuniary  rewards  ;  for  your  memo- 
lialists  believe  that  no  interests,  involving  such  vast  investments  of  capital, 
have  generally  been  less  productive.  Nor  is  the  present  degree  of  security 
due  to  any  interference  of  the  Government  with  the  mechanical  arrange- 
ments and  prudential  management  of  our  steamvessels,  or  to  the  enforce- 
ment of  novel  and  severe  principles  of  legislation  ;  but  has  been  owing  to 
the  inventive  and  discriminative  powers,  prudent  foresight,  and  persevering 
spirit  of  those  who  are  engaged  in  this  important  branch  of  national  enter- 
prise. 

Blair  &  Rives,  printers. 


537 

2  Doc.  No.  158. 

This  spirit  of  intelligent  enterprise,  producing  results  which  have,  gener- 
ally, been  more  and  more  favorable  to  the  security  and  advantage  of  the 
public,  has  continued  in  full  activity  to  the  present  hour;  with  a  firm  re- 
liance, on  the  part  of  those  engaged,  upon  the  guardianship  and  protection 
which  is  due  from  the  Government  of  this  vast  country  to  an  interest  which 
is  inseparably  connected  with  us  principal  .business  relations  and  public 
resources,  and  which  is  destined  io  advance  our  country  to  the  highest 
point  of  prosperity  and  power. 

Your  memorialists  further  represent,  that  certain  enactments  of  peculiar 
novelty  and  severity,  found  in  the  act  of  Congress  of  July,  183S,  are  calcu- 
lated to  bear  harshly  and  oppressively  upon  the  owners  of  steamvessels,  and 
thus  to  affect  injuriously  this  important  branch  of  our  navigation.  These 
enactments,  instead  of  furnishing  encouragement  for  a  just  and  generous 
rivalry,  in  bringing  steamvessels  and  their  machinery  to  the  highest  possi- 
ble state  of  security  and  perfection,  have,  unfortunately,  in  the  view  of  your 
memorialists,  a  direct  tendency  to  deter  men  of  prudence,  capacity,  and 
property,  from  further  connexion  with  this  business  ;  who  are  unwilling  to 
submit  to  implied  reproach  and  degradation,  to  unwarranted  hazards,  and 
to  the  loss  of  rights  and  privileges  which  are  guarantied  to  all  other  persons 
engaged  in  a  lawful  calling.  Your  memorialists  refer  more  especially  to 
the  clause  which  deprives  them  of  the  universal  legal  protection  common  to 
every  civilized  couutry,  by  unjustly  construing,  in  the  event  of  any  serious 
disaster  to  life  and  property,  the  presumption  of  innocence  into  prima  facie 
evidence  of  guilt:  and  they  respectfully  request  of  your  honorable  body 
that  a  provision  which  is  so  much  at  variance  with  their  fundamental  rights 
and  privileges  as  American  citizens  may  be  repealed. 

It  is  with  painful  regret  that  your  memorialists  have  noticed  nn  attempt 
to  procure  a  broader  and  more  mischievous  application  of  this  unjust  prin- 
ciple, by  means  of  proposed  additions  to  this  law  :  and  they  respectfully  ask 
of  Congress  to  be  protected  from  such  proposed  aggravations  of  the  already 
severe  and  relentless  doctrines  of  the  common  law  as  it  now  governs  the 
responsibilities  of  common  carriers  ;  and  which,  if  enacted,  must  tend  to 
destroy  every  just  inducement  for  longer  continuance  in  a  business  which 
is  subjected  to  such  unprecedented  liabilities  to  loss  and  ruin.  These"  ex- 
traordinary hazards  and  liabilities,  it  should  be  noticed,  will  not  pertain  to 
our  competitors  under  a  foreign  flag;  and  our  citizens  may  thus  be  virtu- 
ally excluded  from  navigating  the  ocean  by  steam.  Your  memorialists 
would  further  remark  that  if,  with  the  best  knowledge  possessed  by  this  or 
any  other  country,  this  species  of  navigation1  be  deemed  too  hazardous  for 
the  public  safety,  they  deem  it  more  just  and  honorable  to  submit  to  its 
entire  prohibition. 

Your  memorialists  believe  that  few  opinions  are  more  erroneous  than 
that  which  ascribes  to  the  provisions  of  the  existing  law  a  generally  increas- 
ed safety  for  persons  and  property  carried  in  steamboats.  This  may  appear 
from  the  many  accidents  or  disasters  of  a  serious  character  which  have 
taken  place  during  the  short  period  in  which  this  law  has  been  in  force. 
"The  number  of  these  accidents  on  the  western  waters  during  the  last  year 
is  stated  to  have  been  forty;  which  may  serve  to  convince  Congress  that 
the  appropriate  remedies  for  these  disasters  are  not  furnished  by  this  law  ; 
and  can  be  found  only  in  the  increasing  practical  knowledge  and  skill  of 
those  persons  who  are  engaged  in  the  construction  and  management  of 
steamvessels, 


Durst 


Doc.  No.  158. 


3 


Your  memorialists  do  not  seek  to  escape  from  any  just  responsibilities  in 
conducting  this  important  business.  On  the  contrary,  they  feel  bound  to 
furnish  every  reasonable  guarantee  for  safely  to  life  and  property  which  hu- 
man foresight  and  prudence  may  be  able  to  afford :  and  it  is  for  the  purpose 
of  furnishing  these  guarantees  in  the  most  direct  and  practical  manner,  that 
they  further  respectfully  but  earnestly  request,  that  Congress  will  call  to  the 
aid  of  its  committees,  to  whose  protection  this  important  branch  of  naviga- 
tion has  been  intrusted,  the  information  and  experience  of  some  of  the  indi- 
viduals whose  lives  have  been  devoted  to  its  improvement  and  practice  from 
its  earliest  origin  in  this  country :  in  order  that  practical  knowledge  may 
form  the  basis  of  legislation  upon  a  subject  which  affects  more  or  less  di- 
rectly the  interests  and  business  of,  probably,  a  great  majority  of  the  Ameri- 
can people. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

New  York,  February  22,  1840. 

James  A.  Stevens  R.  D.  Sillimsn 

A.  N.  Hoffman  Wm.  D.  Haight 

Robert  Dunlop  Nathan  Dunchy 

Jonas  C.  Heartt  John  Fame 

Richard  P.  Hart  G.  S.  Griffith 

Geo.  B.  Warren  Peter  Sharpe 

D.  South  wick  Peter  Yan  Alstym 

Alsop  Weed  John  Hunter 

L.  G.  Cannon  John  L.  Thompson 

For  steamboats — North  river  line — Albany,  De  Witt  Clinton,  Swallow, 
Erie,  Champlain,  John  Mason,  Columbus,  Union,  General  Jackson,  Robert 
L.  Stevens,  and  Jonas  C.  Heartt  :  about  5;50O  tons  ;  navigating  about 
250,000  miles  annually. 

Daniel  Drew 
For  steamboats  Rochester,  Utica,  and  Saratoga, 

A.  Yansantvoort  J.  Newton 

Wm.  C.  Red  field  James  H.  Hooker 

Horace  Stocking  G.  S.  Griffith 

Daniel  Peck  Jasper  S.  Keeler 

Henry  Greene  Thaddeus  Joy 

Asa  B.  Meech  Wm.  Coughtry 

Charles  S.  Olmstett  Eliakim  Ford,  jr. 

Pope  Catlixi  Thomas  James 

Marquis  Barnes  Henry  Keeler 

For  steamboats  Swiftsure,  Constitution,  Commerce,  Illinois.  Sandusky, 
Mount  Pleasant,  Oliver  Ellsworth,  United  States,  Henry  Eckford,  New 
London,  James  Fairlie,  and  John  Jay.  together  with  fifty-four  freight 
steamvessels  :  being  an  aggregate  of  about  13,000  tons,  and  the  several 
keels,  navigating  an  aggregate  distance  of  about  330.000  miles  annually. 

Thomas  Powell  Robert  Wardrop 

Samuel  Johnson 

Proprietors  of  the  steamboat  Highlander,  Newburg. 

Benj.  Carpenter  Wm.  L.  F.  Warren 

Charles  Halstead 

Proprietors  of  the  steamboat  James  Madison,  Newburg. 


4 


Doc.  No.  158. 


D.  Crawford  Gabriel  P.  Adams 

Wm.  K.  Mailler  C.  Belknap,  jr. 

Joseph  M.  Brown 

Proprietors  of  the  steamboat  Washington,  of  Newburg. 

Jackson  Oakley  Oliver  Davis 

Proprietors  of  the  steamboat  Superior,  of  Newburg. 
Kevins,  Townsend  &  Co.  Richard  S.  Williams 

Thaddeus  Phelps  Thomas  Williams,  jr. 

Charles  Hoyt  Seth  Thay 


James  G.  King  Moses  B.  Ires 

C.  H.  Russell  Joseph  J.  Comstock 

Wm.  H.  Russell     ,  Charles  N.  Talbot 

George  W.  Whistler  George  Curtis 

William  Comstock  R.  &  G.  L.  Schuyler 

Charles  A.  Woolsey  Robert  Ray 

For  steamboats  Massachusetts,  Narraganset,  Rhode  Island,  Providence, 
and  Mohcgan  :  aggregate  tonnage  2,7l)0 ;  navigating  about  120,000  miles 
annually ;  route  by  Long  Island  sound. 

Daniel  B.  Allen 

For  steamboats  Cleopatra,  New  Haven,  and  Flushing;  1,000  tons;  Hart- 
ford, New  Haven,  and  Sag  Harbor  lines  ;  navigation  about  70,000  miles 
annually. 

James  P.  Allaire 

For  steamboat  Osiris,  from  New  York  to  Shrewsbury,  New  Jersey  ;  navi- 
gating about  20,000  miles  annually. 

Lawrence  &  Sneden 
For  steamboats  Telegraph,  Crolon,  and  Hope. 

Curtis  Peck 
For  steamboat  Fairfield. 

Charles  Peck  Charles  B.  Peck,  Captain. 

For  steamboat  American  Eagle. 

Wm.  W.  Coit 

For  steamboat  Norwich,  navigating  about  30,000  miles  annually;  Nor- 
wich and  New  London  line. 

O.  Mauran 

For  steamers  Hercules.  Samson,  Staten  Islander,  and  Bolivar. 


Gadsby's  Hotel,  March  27,  1840. 
Dear  Sir  :  I  send  you  herewith  a  duplicate  copy  of  our  memorial  on 
the  steamboat  law,  with  original  signatures,  for  presentation  in  the  House. 
As  the  supposed  necessity  of  this  legislation  seems  to  rest  on  the  state  of 
public  opinion,  we  have  been  at  the  pains  (in  appendixes  A  and  B)  to 
furnish  such  facts  and  considerations  as  will  serve  to  correct  the  prevailing 
errors  on  this  subject,  and  also  (in  appendix  B)  to  correct  the  erroneous 
theories  and  practice  in  steam-navigation,  particularly  on  our  western 
waters.  Sober  appeals  of  this  kind,  from  men  in  the  profession,  we  be- 
lieve, will  do  more  to  suppress  disastrous  accidents  by  steam,  than  all  the 
restrictive  laws  and  penalties  that  can  be  enacted. 


Doc.  No.  158. 


5 


For  these  and  like  reasons,  our  friends  in  New  York  earnestly  desire 
the  printing  of  5,000  copies  of  the  memorial  and  accompanying  papers 
for  general  circulation,  both  with  the  public  and  with  those  connected 
with  steam-navigation.  This  is  the  more  desirable,  because  it  will  be  the 
first  time  that  the  representatives  of  this  important  interest  have  been 
heard  on  the  question. 

It  is  proper  to  state,  however,  that  a  part  of  appendix  B  was  printed  at 
the  commencement  of  the  last  session,  by  order  of  the  House,  as  an  ap- 
pendix to  document  21.  But  this  having  been  done  after  the  document 
was  circulated,  the  object  was  not  attained,  except  in  a  very  few  instances. 
There  are  also  corrections  and  considerable  additions  of  new  matter  ill 
that  part  of  the  paper  which  is  now  presented  as  appendix  B  ;  and  it  is  to 
this  latter  appendix  that  you  will  consider  these  last  remarks  to  apply ; 
appendix  A  having  not  been  printed  except  by  ourselves  for  our  memo- 
rial. The  Senate,  I  understand,  have  printed  only  the  usual  number  of 
copies. 

We  also  respectfully  and  especially  request  that,  when  the  bill  from  the 
Senate  shall  have  reached  your  House,  the  committee  to  which  it  may  be 
referred  will  cause  us  to  be  sent  for  and  heard  before  them  on  its  merits, 
and,  to  that  end,  that  it  may  be  printed  as  it  shall  come  from  the  Senate. 
Yours,  with  great  respect, 

WM.  C.  REDFIELD, 

In  behalf  of  the  memorialists. 

Hon.  Edward  Curtis, 

House  of  Representatives. 


APPENDIX  A. 


No.  1. 

The  following  communication  ioas  made  by  request  to  the  commissioners 
appointed  by  the  English  Government  for  conducting-  an  inquiry  into 
the  causes  of  steamboat  accidents  and  the  practical  means  of  preventing 
their  recurrence. 

New  York,  June  12,  1830. 

Sir  :  Having  received,  through  a  valued  friend,  a  copy  of  the  circular 
issued  by  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  which  authorizes 
an  inquiry,  through  the  agency  of  yourself  and  Mr.  Parke,  «  into  the  nature 
and  causes  of  the  accidents  which  have  occurred  in  steamvessels,  and 
whether  any  measures  can  be  taken  in  order  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of 
such  accidents,"  accompanied  also  by  a  request  for  my  views  on  this  sub- 
ject, I  will  cheerfully  respond  to  the  inquiry  in  such  manner  as  is  suggested 
by  my  own  experience  and  observation.*" 

The  accidents  comprised  in  this  inquiry  may  be  classed  under  the  fol- 
lowing heads : 


*  This  communication  did  not  reach  England  till  after  the  publication  by  Parliament  of  the 
report  made  to  the  Government  by  Captain  Pringle  and  Mr.  Parke. 


G 


Doc.  No.  15S. 


I.  Accidents  by  shipwreck. 
II.  Accidents  by  collision. 

III.  Accidents  by  lire. 

IV.  Accidents  by  explosions,  or  by  the  injurious  escape  of  steam. 

The  following  suggestions  on  these  several  topics  are  offered  for  your 
consideration: 

I.  The  liability  of  steamvessels  to  shipwreck  or  loss  at  sea  by  stress  of 
weather  may  chiefly  depend  on  the  following  causes  or  considerations  : 

1.  The  ability  to  avoid  being  stranded  or  cast  on  a  lee-shore,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  llothsay  Castle,  the  Killarney,  and  the  Forfarshire,  steamvessels, 
must  depend  mainly  upon  the  power  which  can  be  commanded  for  en- 
countering  successfully  the  winds,  tides,  and  seas,  and  for  keeping  the  ves- 
sel manageable  or  under  the  control  of  the  pilot  or  navigator. 

This  power  must  depend,  1st.  On  the  general  rate  and  efficiency  of  the 
engine  ;  2d.  On  the  ratio  of  velocity,  or,  in  common  sea-language,  purchase, 
between  the  piston  and  the  paddles;*  3d.  On  the  strength  of  the  boiler,  and 
its  security  from  inundation  ;  the  boiler,  if  near  the  bottom  of  the  vessel, 
being  liable  to  have  its  fires  extinguished  by  any  accidental  accession  of 
water  in  the  hold. 

2.  The  liability  of  the  hull  of  a  steamvessel  to  receive  injury  from  stress 
of  weather,  when  clear  of  the  land,  as  in  the  cases  of  the  English  steamer 
Royal  Tar,  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  and  the  American  steamboat  Home,  on 
the  coast  of  North  Carolina,  appears  to  depend  greatly  on  the  mode  of  con- 
struction which  may  have  been  adopted.  Steamers  require  a  greater  pro- 
portionate length  than  is  given  to  other  vessels ;  and  being  oftener  kept 
up  to  the  wind  and  sea,  they  are  more  liable  than  other  vessels  to  suffer 
from  straining.  The  best  remedy  which  is  suggested  for  this  evil  consists 
in  a  change  in  the  system  of  naval  construction.  In  the  present  system 
reliance  is  mainly  had  upon  spikes,  bolts,  or  treenails,  driven  traversely, 
and  aided  also,  in  some  cases,  by  longitudinal  bolts,  bedded  in  the  vessel's 
frame  ;  but  no  effectual  measures  have  been  taken  to  transfer  the  laboring 
strain,  which  falls  laterally  upon  the  fastenings  and  their  bearings,  to  the 
timbers  and  planking,  or  the  mass  of  woody  fibre.  Hence,  when  a  heavy 
stress  is  thrown  upon  the  fastenings,  their  bearing-surfaces  in  the  wood 
are  found  to  yield,  and  even  the  fastenings  themselves  become  subject  to 
flexure.  Thus  the  planks  are  moved,  the  seams  are  loosened,  and  water 
is  admitted,  to  the  immediate  hazard  and  damage  of  the  vessel,  and  caus- 
ing also  a  premature  decay. 

I  propose,  as  a  remedy  for  this  evil,  that  the  frames  of  the  vessel  (if  close- 
ly built)  be  so  moulded  as  to  project,  alternately,  inward  and  outward,  to 
the  extent  of  say  three-fourths  of  an  inch  beyond  the  general  surface,  so 
as  to  form  alternate  projections  and  depressions  on  both  the  interior  and 
exterior  surfaces  of  the  framing.  Each  plank  should  be  of  somewhat  more 
than  the  usual  thickness,  and  is  first  to  be  fitted  to  its  place,  and  its  bear- 
ing-surface then  cut  out  in  such  manner  as  to  receive  the  projections  of 
the  framing  in  the  closest  manner;  the  several  butts  being  scarfed,  so  as 
to  lock  the  continuous  planks  together  by  means  of  one  of  the  projecting 
frames.  After  laying  three  or  four  planks  in  this  manner,  the  next  one  is 
to  preserve  its  full  thickness  throughout,  and  is  to  be  let  into  an  opening 


+  The  advantages  of  an  increased  ratio  of  velocity  in  the  piston  are  far  more  important  in. 
stress  of  weataer  than  in  the  ordinary  circumstances  of  navigation. 


Doc.  No.  158. 


7 


which  is  nicely  cut  to  the  depth  of  the  projections  of  the  frame,  so  as  to 
interlock  against  the  lateral  or  calking  strain,  to  which  the  planks  and 
timbers  are  exposed ;  and  these  modifications  of  the  interlocking  process 
are  to  be  repeated  throughout  the  planking,  except,  perhaps,  in  some  parts 
near  the  extremities  of  the  vessel  where  the  strain  is  less,  and  the  greater 
"bending  of  the  planks  may  render  the  overlooking  part  of  the  process  too 
inconvenient. 

On  this  plan  the  strain  upon  the  fastenings  is  chiefly  longitudinal,  and 
they  perform  little  other  duty  than  that  of  holding  the  several  parts  of  the 
structure  in  close  contact ;  while  the  great  strain,  which  results  from  the 
weight  and  throw  of  the  vessel  and  her  cargo  by  the  power  of  the  sea,  is 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  general  mass  of  woody  fibre  which  is  used  in 
construction,  and  which  is  competent  to  sustain  it  without  the  least  inju- 
ry ;  while,  in  the  usual  system  of  construction,  perhaps  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  wood  employed  is  quite  unavailable  for  the  support  of  the 
vessel  against  heavy  straining  at  sea,  and  contributes  also,  by  its  weight, 
to  the  strain  upon  the  fastenings.* 

II.  Accidents  from  collision. — These,  it  is  believed,  are  mostly  ow- 
ing to  the  want  of  a  simple  and  well-digested  system  of  regulations  for  the 
government  of  vessels  which  are  steering  in  opposite  directions,  especially 
in  the  night-season  or  in  thick  weather.  Various  plans  have  been  recom- 
mended in  Europe  and  America,  but  I  know  of  none  that  I  think  equal 
to  the  system  established  on  the  waters  of  the  State  of  JNew  York  ;  where, 
with  perhaps  the  most  active  night-navigation  in  the  world,  accidents  by 
collision  have  now  become  quite  rare. 

It  is  important  for  each  pilot  or  navigator  of  a  steamvessel  to  be  able  to 
understand  the  course  or  courses  which  are  steered,  and  will  continue  to 
be  taken,  by  the  vessels  which  he  may  meet.  For  this  knowledge  we 
must  chiefly  rely  upon  a  judicious  system  of  lights,  and  upon  the  reason- 
able presumption  that  no  steamvessel  will  vary  from  its  usual  and  proper 
course  without  good  cause. 

Owing  to  their  sharpness  and  great  length,  steamvessels  are  not  adapt- 
ed to  turning  and  dodging  in  their  course  ;  for  any  such  practice  is  high- 
ly dangerous  and  should  never  be  attempted.  If  a  slight  variation  of  the 
course  be  judged  insufficient  for  avoiding  collision,  the  proper  alternative 
is  to  stop  instantly,  and  work  the  engine  aback. 

In  this  quarter,  when  steamers  are  likely  to  meet  each  other  on  opposite 
courses,  each  keeps  sufficiently  to  the  right  to  avoid  collision,  as  required 
by  law ;  but  this  rule  does  not  require  the  steersman  to  change  from  one 
side  of  an  approaching  vessel  to  the  other,  for  this  would  not  unfrequent- 
ly  end  in  confusion  and  accident.  In  the  night-time,  the  course  of  other 
steamers  is  ascertained  by  means  of  the  two  signal-lights,  at  the  bow  and 
stern,  which  each  steamvessel  carries. 

The  forward  lights  are  placed  outside  the  bow,  on  each  side  of  the  stem, 
and  enclosed,  except  in  front,  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  view  of  the 
pilot  or  steersman  ;  while  the  stern  lights  are  hoisted  upon  the  flagstaff  at 
the  taffrail,  some  forty  or  fifty  feet  above  the  deck.  The  comparative  dis- 
tance of  these  or  other  lights  cannot  always  be  well  determined  ;  but  the 
low  light  is  known  to  be  at  the  bow,  and  the  high  light  at  the  stern,  and, 

*  In  this  plan  of  construction  ir  is  not  intended  to  dispense  with  the  auxiliary  aid  of  a  system 
of  diagonal  braces  and  riders,  which  should  also  be  interlocked  with  the  vessel's  side  ;  but  di- 
agonals will  be  of  little  benefit  if  secured  only  by  the  common  lateral  fastenings. 


s 


Doc.  No.  158. 


according  to  the  angle  or  distance  at  which  the  low  light  is  subtended' to 
the  right  <>r  left  of  the  high  one.  is  the  course  of  the  approaching  steamer, 
with  entire  certainty,  determined  ;  and  the  probable  changes  to  be  expect- 
ed in  her  course,  if  any,  are  known  by  her  position  in  the  channel-way 
and  her  probable  destination.  Thus,  nearly  all  sources  of  uncertainty 
and  confusion  are  avoided,  by  means  which  are  at  once  both  simple  and 
effectual. 

I  have  seen  it  recommended  to  place  lights  of  different  colors  on  the 
paddle-covers ;  but  this  can  only  serve  to  distinguish  steamers  amid  a 
multitude  of  other  lights,  and  in  a  very  crowded  navigation.  Nor  should 
lights  ever  be  carried  in  such  a  position  as,  by  their  glare  or  reflection,  will 
embarrass  the  night  view  of  the  steersman  ;  and  by  exposing  as  few  lights 
as  possible,  a  great  source  of  confusion  is  avoided.  I  also  hold  it  as  es- 
sential, that  a  steamvessel  should  be  steered  from  the  highest  portion  of 
her  central  or  forward  body,  by  means  of  a  wheel  and  tiller-ropes;  and 
that,  in  narrow  waters  or  a  crowded  channel,  the  cun  of  the  vessel  should 
be  assumed  only  by  an  officer  or  pilot  standing  at  the  wheel,  who  feels  the 
helm,  while  he  has  also  the  advantage  of  an  unobstructed  view. 

You  will  find  annexed  a  copy  of  the  principal  sections  of  the  steam- 
boat law  of  the  State  of  New  York.*  This  statute  is  not  recommended 
on  account  of  its  penal  enactments,  which,  being  probably  designed  to  al- 
lay popular  apprehensions,  have  been  chiefly  fortuitous,  and  are,  mainly, 
inoperative ;  but  as  exhibiting  our  practical  system  for  the  avoidance  of 
collisions,  which  has,  very  properly,  found  place  among  its  provisions. 

III.  Accidents  by  Fire. — This  being  a  subject  to  which  the  com- 
mon observation  and  attention  of  mankind  are  largely  directed,  it  appears 
hardly  necessary  to  discuss  it  on  the  present  occasion.  In  addition  to 
other  securities,  good  forcing-pumps  with  air-chambers  and  hose,  having 
the  essential  qualities  of  a  fire-engine,  should  always  be  provided,  both 
near  the  boilers  and  furnaces  and  in  situations  above  deck,  which  will  be 
always  accessible,  in  case  of  being  driven  from  the  former  by  accidents  of 
fire  or  steam. 

IV.  Accidents  by  Explosion,  or  injurious  escape  of  Steam. — This 
is  doubtless  the  chief  topic  which  claims  our  consideration  on  the  present 
occasion. 

As  regards  the  means  which  are  now  chiefly  relied  on  as  affording  se- 
curity from  steam  explosions — such  as  careful  and  intelligent  management, 
the  providing  of  good  safety-valves,  gauge-taps,  glass  water-gauges,  pres- 
sure-thermometers, mercurial  pressure-gauges,  and  the  like — I  am  not 
aware  that  any  thing  new  and  useful  can  now  be  offered ;  and  am  con- 
vinced, that  if  due  attention  to  these  could  have  ensured  entire  safety,  it 
would  have  been  already  attained.  But  an  attentive  consideration  of  the 
various  accidents  which  have  occurred  within  the  circle  of  my  observa- 
tion, and  of  those  also  which  have  come  to  my  knowledge  through  the 
publications  of  the  day,  has  led  me  to  the  following  conclusions  :  First, 
That  accidents,  more  or  less  serious,  must  be  expected  sometimes  to  attend 
the  use  of  the  steam-engine,  as  well  as  all  other  efforts  or  combinations  of 
human  skill,  and  that  the  interests  and  safety  of  the  public  are  not  best 
promoted  by  resorting  to  a  system  of  onerous  and  penal  legislation  in 
regulating  its  use.    Second,  That  a  very  great  proportion  of  the  steam- 


*  This  law  may  be  found  in  the  Revised  Statutes  of  New  York. 


Doc.  No.  158. 


accidents  which  have  occurred  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  have  been 
owing  chiefly  to  defects  in  the  general  system  of  construction,  and  not,  as 
has  been  very  generally  supposed,  to  the  want  of  cautionary  apparatus,  or 
the  gross  neglect  of  those  who  were  intrusted  with  the  executive  duties. 

The  last  conclusion,  though  at  variance  with  opinions  which  are  ex- 
tensively entertained,  may  also  be  sustained  by  a  careful  examination  of 
the  degree  of  strength  which  is  afforded  by  the  weakest  portions  of  com- 
mon steam-boilers,  as  compared  with  the  maximum  pressure  and  incidental 
hazards  to  which  they  are  liable.  This  want  of  a  sufficient  disparity  be- 
tween the  maximum  of  force  and  the  minimum  of  resistance,  will  appear 
still  more  obvious  by  extending  the  comparison  to  other  structures  or 
effective  laboring  machines  of  like  metal,  where,  in  all  important  cases,  it 
is  believed,  a  much  greater  proportionate  strength  is  usually  found  than 
pertains  to  steam-boilers  of  the  ordinary  construction. 

But  however  this  may  be,  it  appears  certain  that  in  this  quarter  the 
accidents  to  steam-boilers  have  been  nearly  in  proportion  to  their  deficien- 
cy in  comparative  strength.  This  point  deserves,  however,  a  more  com- 
plete elucidation  than  can  be  attempted  at  this  time,  and  I  therefore  refer  to 
a  communication  to  the  honorable  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States,  on  the  general  subject,  which  I  prepared  a  few  months  since  in 
compliance  with  a  resolution  of  inquiry  which  was  passed  by  Congress.* 

It  is  obvious  that  there  are  few  uses  to  which  metals  are  applied  which 
demand  so  much  attention  to  strength  and  security,  as  in  the  manufacture 
of  steam-boilers.  These  should  be  so  constructed  as  to  be  guarded,  on 
this  point,  against  all  contingencies  of  the  use  which  are  likely  to  occur. 

If  an  examination  of  the  English  and  American  steamvessels  should 
show  a  degree  of  deficiency  on  this  point,  the  cause  may  be  readily  found 
in  the  influence  of  habit,  of  prevailing  opinions,  and  of  previous  examples, 
which  have  had  their  origin  in  an  early  stage  of  the  art ;  and  also  in  con- 
siderations of  practical  convenience  and  facility  of  manufacture.  That  the 
warnings  resulting  from  the  various  disasters  which  have  occurred  have 
failed  to  some  extent  in  their  preventive  effects,  is  probably  because  the 
theoretical  opinion  has  been  honestly  and  sedulously  cherished,  that  these 
accidents  have  occurred  only  through  the  culpable  carelessness  and  neglect 
of  those  in  immediate  charge  of  the  boilers ;  and  the  evil  is  thus  in  some 
degree  rendered  permanent. 

That  the  safety  of  steam-boilers  from  explosions  does  not  necessarily 
depend  upon  working  with  so  low*  a  pressure  as  five  or  seven  pounds  to  the 
square  inch,  and  that  a  reasonable  increase  in  the  proportionate  strength 
of  the  boilers  in  steamvessels  would  remove  all  immediate  hazard,  and 
nearly  end  the  catalogue  of  these  disasters,  is  rendered  apparent  by  the 
facts  which  relate  to  this  branch  of  navigation  as  it  has  been  carried  on  in 
various  directions  from  the  city  and  port  of  New  York.  Here,  where 
steam- navigation  was  first  successfully  established,  and  where  it  has  prob- 
ably attained  its  highest  degree  of  efficiency,  we  might  have  expected  that 
accidents  and  disasters  would,  not  unfrequently,  attend  the  use  of  a  power 
at  once  so  novel  and  energetic.  The  accidents  and  fatalities  which  have 
here  occurred,  as  well  as  their  probable  proportion  to  the  pressure  of  steam, 
the  number  of  boats  employed  or  trips  made,  the  number  of  miles  navi- 
gated, and  the  number  of  passengers  which  from  time  to  time  have  been 
exposed,  may  be  seen  in  the  annexed  table. 


*  For  a  revised  copy  of  this  communication,  see  appendix  B. 


10 


Doc.  No.  15S 


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Doc.  No.  158. 


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Doc.  No.  158. 


13 


This  table,  so  far  as  relates  to  the  service  performed  on  the  different 
routes  and  the  number  of  persons  exposed,  is  made  up  approximately,  by- 
estimates  founded  on  my  general  acquaintance  with  our  steam  navigation ; 
but  is  believed  to  be  sufficiently  correct  for  general  purposes.  I  have 
separated  the  business  of  the  fifteen  years  which  it  comprises  into  three 
several  periods  of  five  years  each,  commencing  with  1824 ;  early  in  which 
year  the  navigation,  in  this  State,  which  had  previously  been  controlled 
by  the  associates  of  Fulton  and  Livingston,  was  thrown  open  to  all  com- 
petitors. 

It  appears  from  the  average  results  of  this  table,  that  during  even  the 
first  period  of  five  years  after  the  navigation  was  thrown  open  to  public 
competition,  the  ratio  of  steam  accidents  was  only  equal  to  one  for  more 
than  20,000  trips  or  passages ;  and  that  the  average  loss  of  life  was  only 
equal  to  one  for  more  than  126,000  passengers  exposed.  Thus,  at  the  fair 
outset  of  this  noble  enterprise,  a  degree  of  safety  was  attained  for  the  pas- 
senger, such  as  may  well  challenge  comparison  with  any  artificial  means 
of  transit  or  locomotion  that  has  ever  been  resorted  to  by  the  human 
race. 

It  appears,  further,  on  comparing  the  results  of  these  several  periods, 
that  the  ratio  of  steam  accidents  for  the  first  and  third  periods,  as  compared 
with  the  probable  number  of  trips  made,  has  decreased  from  one  in  20,317, 
for  the  first  period,  to  one  in  317,105,  for  the  third  or  latest  period ;  show- 
ing a  diminution  of  the  ratio  of  accidents,  in  the  average  period  of  ten 
years,  equal  to  about  84  per  cent.  The  ratio  of  lives  lost  from  these  acci- 
dents during  the  same  period  has  also  decreased  from  one  in  126,211  to 
one  in  1,985,787;  equal  also  to  a  diminution  in  the  ratio  of  personal 
hazard,  in  this  short  period,  of  84  per  cent. 

It  appears  also  from  this  table,  that  during  the  first  of  these  periods  the 
average  number  of  miles  navigated  by  all  our  steamboats  to  each  explo- 
sion which  occurred,  was  equal  to  235,646 — a  distance  equal  to  many 
times  the  circumference  of  our  globe,  and  about  equal  to  that  from  the 
earth  to  the  moon.  But  even  this  ratio  has  been  rendered  tenfold  more 
favorable  in  the  short  average  period  of  ten  years,  being  for  the  latest  five 
years  2,733,725  miles  navigated  for  each  explosion ;  or  more  than  eleven 
times  the  distance  from  the  earth  to  the  moon;  and  reducing  the  ratio  of 
hazards  in  proportion  to  distance,  almost  90  per  cent.m 

This  remarkable  diminution  of  accidents  and  hazard,  it  may  be  seen, 
has  taken  place  in  the  very  period  in  which  the  average  working  pressure 
of  steam  has  been  more  than  doubled.  It  has  also  been  attained  solely  by 
professional  skill  and  experience,  and  without  any  aid  from  legislative  in- 


[*  The  results  of  a  like  examination  extended  to  the  whole  Atlantic  tide-waters,  and.  the  great 
lakes,  it  is  believed,  would  be  no  less  favorable.  But  it  will  doubtless  be  suj  posed,  that  on  our 
western  rivers  the  ratio  of  accidents  and  hazard,  by  steam  explosions  must  have  been  far  grea  er. 
This  is  probably  true,  in  a  degree,  owing  to  the  ultra  and  improvident  system  of  high  pressure 
construction  which  there  prevails.  But  let  the  inquiry  be  strictly  made,  upen  the  above  prin- 
ciples of  analysis,  and  it  may  serve  to  show  how  uncertain  a  test  of  the  real  hazard  is  lounl  m 
public  prejudice,  or  individual  apprehension.  The  constructors  and  managers  of  we-teru  en- 
gines aud  steamboats  owe  it  to  themselves,  to  their  profession,  and  (he  public,  lo  make  this  in- 
quiry ;  so  that  the  faults,  or  the  safety,  of  their  favorite  system  Or  engineering  may  fully  appear. 
If  a  scheme  of  penal  enactments  shall  there  be  found  necessary  and  available  for  the  protection 
of  human  life,  which  I  cannot  readily  believe,  let  it  be  confined  to  those  watets  which  are  above 
the  flow  of  the  tide ;  or,  which  I  deem  better  and  more  efficient  practice,  let  their  present  system 
be  either  modified  or  discontinued.] 


14 


Doc.  No.  158. 


terference;  for  the  law  of  Congress  on  this  subject  was  not  in  force  till 
near  the  close  of  the  year  1838.  Had  such  a  system  of  legislation  been 
at  first  adopted,  there  are  sound  reasons  for  concluding  that  it  would  not 
have  prevented  disasters,  but  might  have  greatly  retarded  the  rapid  advance 
in  safety,  as  well  as  improvement,  which  has  been  so  happily  attained.* 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  average  pressure  of  steam 
now  used  on  the  New  York  steamboats  can  be  greatly  increased,  without 
incurring  material  hazard.  The  thickness  which  is  found  most  suitable 
for  boiler-metal,  and  the  practical  and  economical  limits  of  form  and  size, 
are  such  as  should  prevent  us  from  allowing  a  maximum  pressure  exceed- 
ing one  and  a  half  or  two  atmospheres  above  the  common  boiling  point, 
for  condensing  engines ;  with  an  addition  of  about  one  atmosphere  for 
high-pressure  engines,  which  are  worked  without  a  condenser  and  air- 
pump.  To  these  limits,  if  an  adequate  system  of  boiler  construction  be 
adopted,  the  pressure  may  with  safety  be  carried,  as  is  done  in  locomo- 
tive engines,  in  the  use  of  which,  owing  to  a  better  system  of  construc- 
tion, fatal  accidents  have  been  less  frequent,  perhaps,  than  with  low-pres- 
sure marine  engines. 

I  annex,  also,  a  copy  of  the  law  of  the  United  States,  entitled  "  An  act 
to  provide  for  the  better  security  of  the  lives  of  passengers  on  board  of 
vessels  propelled  in  whole  or  in  part  by  steam." 

It  may  be  proper  to  remark,  that  the  passage  of  this  law  was  unexpected 
to  the  owners  of  steamvessels,  and  that  it  appears  to  have  been  considered 
by  Congress  itself  as  a  premature  measure,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the 
resolutions  for  instituting  an  inquiry  on  this  subject,  which  were  passed 
at  the  same  period. 

More  recently,  a  bill  has  been  reported  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  near  the  close  of  the  last  session,  designed  as  a  substitute  for  the 
existing  law. 

This  bill,  it  will  be  perceived,  imbodies  nearly  all  the  precautionary 
measures  which  have  been  suggested  in  various  quarters  for  preventing 
steamboat  accidents,  and,  for  enforcing  these  prescriptive  measures,  an 
onerous  and  complex  system  of  penalties  is  provided  in  the  bill ;  the 
owners,  managers,  and  officers  of  steamboats  being  apparently  viewed, 
as  in  the  present  law,  as  a  class  having  feelings  and  interests  which  are 


[*  January,  1S40.  On  the  13ih  of  the  present  month  the  steamboat  Lexington  took  fire  on 
Lung-  Island  sound,  and  was  destroyed.  By  this  frightful  disaster  124  lives  were  lost,  and  only 
four  persons  escaped.  The  loss  of  this  vessel  was  perhaps  owing  to  the  combustible  nature  of 
the  materials  in  which  the  fire  broke  out,  the  want  of  immediate  and  concerted  action  to  arrest 
its  fatal  progress,  and  the  panic  which  appears  to  have  prevailed  on  board.  To  these  circum- 
stances, and  especially  to  the  latter,  is  ascribed  the  extraordinary  destruction  of  life,  all  the 
boats  having  been  lowered  and  lost  while  the  engine  was  running  at  full  speed. 

Tiit?  loss  of  a  large  amount  of  property  by  the  owners  and  managers  of  the  Lexington,  and 
the  destruction  of  thirty-nine  valuable  lives  of  persons  in  their  service,  might  have  shown  that 
no  reasonable  motive  or  provision  was  likely  to  have  been  wanting  to  secure  safety  for  all  on 
board,  whatever  may  have  been  the  momentary  errors  or  indiscretions  of  the  crew  or  passen- 
gers. Those  who  have  labored  to  inflame  the  public  against  these  unfortunate  men  may  well 
be  reminded,  that  it  is  now  thirty  years  since  the  public  have  enjoyed  the  use  of  passenger-ves- 
sels impelled  by  fire  and  steam,  and  that  during  this  period  not  less  than  thirty  millions  of  per- 
sona have  been  transported  from  time  to  time  in  the  various  steamboats  which  have  run  to  and 
from  the  city  of  New  York,  and  that  these  steamboats  have  probably  navigated  a  distance  equal 
to  fifteen  millions  of  miles,  and  that  in  all  this  prolonged  and  varied  exposure,  never  before  has 
a  single  life  been  lost  by  the  burning  of  a  steamboat.  This  fact  alone,  to  the  unprejudiced,  speaks 
volumes  in  favor  of  the  general  care  and  skill  of  the  parlies  who  have  been  concerned  in  this 
species  of  navigation.] 


Doc.  No.  158. 


15 


adverse  to  the  safety  and  welfare  of  the  community.  Of  the  great  error 
of  this  newly-assumed  principle  in  legislation,  or  of  the  practical  value 
of  such  a  system  of  enactments,  it  is  not  my  purpose  further  to  inquire ; 
these  being  questions  which  relate  solely  to  American  legislation.  Nor 
is  the  slightest  disrespect  intended  to  the  views  of  the  honorable  and 
highly  intelligent  Senator  who  reported  this  bill ;  who  doubtless  con- 
sidered it  to  be  his  duty  thus  to  prepare,  for  more  mature  consideration, 
the  various  projects  for  securing  safety  which  had  been  urged  upon  his 
attention. 

I  have  long  been  convinced,  however,  that  governments  should  not 
attempt  to  become  responsible  for  the  prevention  of  accidents  to  the  boil- 
ers or  machinery  of  steamvessels,  any  more  than  for  the  errors  and  failures 
of  any  other  machines  or  fabrics  ;  and  that  the  remedies  for  these  accidents 
must  be  sought  elsewhere  than  in  legislative  enactments,  which  should 
relate  only  to  matters  which  may  partake  of  the  character  of  conventional 
regulations,  for  the  general  convenience  and  safety  of  navigation.  The 
most  available  and  useful  legislative  provision  for  these  accidents,  [  con- 
ceive to  be  that  which  shall  provide,  in  every  case  of  explosion  or  injury 
bysteam,  for  a  thorough  investigation  of  all  the  facts  and  circumstances 
which  may  tend  to  throw  any  degree  of  light  upon  either  the  immediate 
or  the  remote  causes  of  the  disaster ;  and  this  inquiry,  I  think,  should  be 
instituted  solely  for  public  benefit  in  the  promotion  of  correct  knowledge, 
and  be  conducted  at  public  expense. 

With  my  best  wishes  for  the  success  of  the  important  inquiry  in  which 
you  are  engaged,  I  subscribe  myself,  dear  sir,  your  most  obedient  servant., 

WM.  C.  REDFIELD. 

Captain  J.  W.  Pringle,  E.  E. 


Doc.  No. 


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Doc.  No.  158. 


21 


To  the  foregoing  instances  of  wrecks,  founderings,  imminent  perils, 
tires,  and  explosions  of  English  steamvesseis,  may  be  added  the  follow- 
ing.   Many  others  probably  remain  unknown : 


No. 

Name  of  vessel. 

Where  employed. 

Nature  of  accident. 

93 

Meteor 

Portland 

Wrecked ;  year  unknown. 

94 

Dasher 

Port  Patrick  - 

Do.  Do. 

95 

Ocean 

London 

Fire ;   subdued  after  imminent 
hazard. 

96 

Royal  Tar  - 

London 

Imminent  danger  of  foundering  in 

the  Bay  of  Biscay. 

97 

Victoria 

Liverpool 

Imminent  danger  of  wreck  ;  saved 

by  a  pilot-boat. 

98 

Shamrock 

Waterford 

Overset  and  filled. 

99 

Royal  Tar  - 

St.  Johns, N.B. 

Fire;  totally  destroyed  Oct.,  1836; 
30  lives  lost. 

100 

Solway 

Carlisle 

Imminent  danger  of  foundering  in 

the  Irish  channel,  Sept.,  1839; 
reached  Port  Logan  in  a  sinking 
state. 

101 

John  Bull  - 

Montreal 

Fire ;  totally  destroyed  June,  1839; 
about  20  lives  lost. 

No.  3. 

Known  accidents  and  disasters  to  American  steamboats  since  the  law  of 

1838. 


Name  of  ve.^sel.  j  Where  employed. 


Nature  of  accident. 


Cynthia 

Gen.  Brown 

Clarendon  - 

Ploughboy  - 
Somerville  - 
Oswego 

Alert 
Alice 
Reporter 
New  York  - 


Detroit  river  - 
Mississippi  - 
Sav.  &  Darien 
Mobile 

Mississippi  - 
Ohio 

Mississippi  - 
Pearl  river 
Ohio 

New  Haven  - 


Burnt;  passengers  and  crew 
saved  by  running  on  shore. 
Explosion  ;  30  lives  lost. 

Burnt ;  crew  and  passengers 
saved. 

Sunk  on  arriving  at  Mobile. 
Sunk. 

Sunk  near  the  mouth  of  the 

Kentucky. 
Eruption  of  steam  ;  4  scalded. 
Sunk. 

Eruption  of  steam  ;  4  scalded. 
Burnt. 


22 


Doc.  No.  158. 

No.  3 — Continued. 


Dale. 

.Name  or  vessel 

Where  employed. 

Nature  of  accident. 

loo  if. 

May 

Avalanche  - 

Ohio 

Lruption  or  collapse  ;  5  killed. 

May 

Rhine 

Missouri 

Explosion 

May 

rilot 

Mississippi 

Explosion  or  collapse. 

May 

Pontchartrain 

IN.  Urleans  tor 

Explosion. 

Tampico  - 

May 

Geo.  Collier 

1\/T"      "      ^    „  • 

Mississippi  - 

Eruption  of  steam ;  45  killed 

or  scalded. 

May 

Lne 

TT 

Hudson  river 

Collapse  ;  1  slightly  wounded. 

May 

Bee 

Arkansas 

feunk. 

May 

Indian 

Arkansas 

ounk. 

May 

Buckeye 

Mississippi  - 

Explosion ;  several  killed  or 

wounded. 

June 

Empire 

V  JlllO 

Snnlr 
kjUIIK. 

June 

Massillon 

Ohio 

Collision  and  erupt'n  of  steam. 

June 

Tennessee  - 

Cumberland 

Burnt  and  sunk ;  passengers 

river 

saved. 

Nov. 

W  i  1  m  i  n  o-tn  n 

M"l  SSI  SSI  DT)1 

• 

E"X"nlosinn  :  ninptppn  killpd  or 

-I  1  AUlvOlVll    «       1 1 1 1 1  V_/  I  L  V/ 1 1      J\  1 1 1  \_/  KA.    \J  X 

wounded. 

1840  - 

Gallatin 

Cumberland 

Collapse ;  3  scalded. 

river 

1840  - 

Lexington  - 

Long  Island 

Burnt ;  about  124  lives  lost. 

Sound 

It  may  be  seen  that  the  most  numerous  and  fatal  of  the  accidents  by 
steam  have  happened  soon  after  the  semi-annual  inspections  of  the  first 
of  April  and  October.  This  fact  will  not  appear  surprising  to  practical 
men,  who  fully  understand  that  the  care  and  skill  of  official  inspectors 
cannot  be  advantageously  substituted  for  the  uncontrolled  vigilance  and 
practical  knowledge  and  skill  of  those  who  are  in  the  constant  care  and 
superintendence  of  the  boats  and  engines,  and  to  whom  a  good  reputa- 
tion, the  desire  of  safety,  and  the  love  of  life,  afford  stronger  and  more 
efficient  motives  to  correct  action  than  can  ever  be  furnished  by  the  re- 
quirements or  penalties  of  any  special  enactments  of  the  legislative  power. 

The  Cincinnati  Gazette  is  stated  to  have  published  a  list  of  steamboat 
disasters  on  the  western  waters  during  the  last  year.  The  sum  total  of 
losses  is  40  :  of  this  number  32  were  an  entire  loss  ;  snagged,  21 ;  struck 
rocks  or  other  obstacles,  7  ;  burnt,  5  ;  burst  their  boilers,  4 ;  run  into  by 
other  boats,  3 — 40.  There  were  snagged  on  the  lower  Mississippi,  11 ; 
on  the  Missouri,  4 ;  on  the  Ohio,  4;  on  the  Yazoo,  1 ;  on  the  Red  river, 
1.  It  is  remarkable  that  a  majority  of  the  boats  were  snagged  on  their 
downward  trips.  Lives  lost,  by  bursting  boilers,  39  ;  by  other  causes,  6. 
Total,  45.  The  amount  of  property  destroyed,  in  boats  and  their  cargoes . 
is  supposed  to  be  not  less  than  a  million  of  dollars. 


Doc.  No.  158. 


23 


On  events  like  these,  the  provisions  of  statutory  law  can  have  but  little 
influence,  except  as  they  may  operate  to  deter  the  men  of  means,  foresight, 
and  mental  ability,  from  a  business  already  too  hazardous  to  their  private 
interests,  and  which,  most  unwisely,  has  been  made  subject  to  the  pro- 
scriptive  action  of  the  popular  press  and  of  the  National  Legislature. 


No.  4. 

Losses  in  ordinary  navigation,  and  the  comparative  hazard  of  naviga- 
tion by  steam. 

Some  of  the  following  paragraphs  are  taken  from  a  communication  made 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  by  one  of  the  memorialists : 

"  So  alarming  have  been  the  accidents  in  steam-navigation  on  our  west- 
ern rivers  and  elsewhere,  as  to  induce  a  belief  in  the  minds  of  some  that 
of  all  modes  of  conveyance  this  is  the  most  hazardous.  That  a  degree  of 
danger  has  attended  this  mode  of  travelling,  which  ought  to  be  lessened  or 
avoided,  it  were  vain  to  deny.  But  when  we  reflect  on  the  recent  origin 
of  the  art,  and  the  vast  numbers  of  persons  who  are  transported  by  its 
means ;  and  when  we  also  consider  the  exposure  and  comparative  acci- 
dents of  other  modes  of  navigation  and  means  of  conveyance,  this  impres- 
sion will  be  materially  altered ;  and  we  shall  rather  have  cause  to  wonder 
that,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  so  small  a  fraction  of  the 
travelling  public  have  become  victims  to  this  hazard.  We  have,  indeed, 
a  fearful  list  of  steamboat  explosions;  but  the  sufferings  and  fatalities 
which  have  attended  other  modes  of  transport  and  conveyance  pass  off 
with  but  little  notice,  as  common  occurrences,  and  their  statistics  are  sel- 
dom known.  Consequently,  the  public  mind  does  not  become  excited  in 
contemplating  these  casualties,  which  are  treated  only  as  evils  which  are 
incident  to  the  common  lot  of  man. 

"  It  appears,  from  statements  in  the  London  Nautical  Magazine,  that  the 
whole  loss  of  property  in  British  vessels  by  shipwreck  or  foundering  is 
estimated  at  ^3.000.000  sterling,  annually ;  and  the  annual  loss  of  life  at 
sea  at  not  less  than  1,000  persons,  not  including  the  numerous  losses  of 
life  on  their  own  coast. 

"As  regards  our  own  navigation,  we  find  the  following  notice  in  the 
Sailor's  Magazine  for  January,  1838  : 

u  '  Shipwrecks  in  the  year  1837. 

"  '  During  the  year  past  there  has  been  published,  in  the  Sailor's  Maga- 
zine, a  monthly  list  of  shipwrecks  which  have  occurred,  principally  of 
American  vessels,  and  which  have  been  published  from  time  to  time  in 
various  newspapers.  Those  only  have  been  selected  which  resulted  in  a 
total  loss  of  the  vessel.  The  number  of  vessels  thus  reported  during  the 
year  is  as  fallows :  ninety-four  ships  and  barks,  one  hundred  and  thir- 
ty-five brigs,  two  hundred  and  thirty-four  schooners,  twelve  sloops,  and 
fifteen  steamboats :  making  a  total  of  four  hundred  and  ninety-three  ves- 
sels which  have  been  wrecked.  Of  these,  forty-three  were  lost  toward  the 
close  of  the  previous  year,  though  the  account  was  not  published  till  the 


24 


Doc.  No.  158. 


commencement  of  this  ;  thirty-eight  were  lost  in  the  month  of  January, 
fifty-four  in  February,  twenty-four  in  March,  thirty  in  April,  nineteen  in 
May,  fifteen  in  June,  forty-two  in  July,  fifty  in  August,  thirty-two  in  Sep- 
tember, forty-three  in  October,  forty-three  in  November,  and  six  in  De- 
cember. The  precise  time  when  the  remaining  vessels  were  lost  could 
not  be  satisfactorily  ascertained. 

" '  In  the  abovenamed  vessels  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
five  lives  are  reported  as  being  lost.  This,  probably,  is  but  a  part  of  the 
whole  ;  for,  in  many  instances,  the  crew  are  spoken  of  as  missing,  and  in 
other  cases  nothing  is  said,  where,  perhaps,  there  was  a  total  loss.' 

"  This  statement  is  said  to  comprise  no  deaths  by  steamboats,  except  in 
cases  where  the  vessel  was  totally  lost.  On  the  other  hand,  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  fatal  accidents  in  ordinary  navigation  must  have  escaped 
the  knowledge  of  the  inquirer. 

"'Now,  in  view  of  this  immense  waste  of  life,  let  it  be  well  considered 
that,  in  the  art  and  practice  of  navigation  other  than  by  steam,  the  world, 
has  had  the  experience  of  more  than  four  thousand  years,  and  the  efforts 
and  intellect  of  many  generations  have  been  tasked  for  its  greater  securi- 
ty;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  scarcely  elapsed 
since  the  powers  of  steam  became  prominently  known  in  navigation,  and 
we  have,  as  yet,  only  witnessed  the  brief  infancy  of  its  application  to  this 
important  purpose.  Surely,  then,  it  is  not  surprising  that  disastrous  and 
fatal  accidents  should  sometimes  have  attended  its  use.  There  is  cause 
for  astonishment,  rather,  that  so  great  a  degree  of  average  security  should 
have  been  attained  in  so  brief  a  period. 

"  Each  great  district  of  our  widely  extended  country  possesses  its  own 
peculiar  facilities  and  hazards  in  this  species  of  navigation,  and  exhibits, 
also,  different  stages  of  improvement  and  security  in  the  use  of  steam.  In 
this  quarter,  the  average  degree  of  security  enjoyed  by  passengers  in  our 
steamboats  is  certainly  greater  than  is  possessed  by  persons  who  walk  the 
streets  of  our  large  cities.  During  the  last  five  years,  millions  of  passen- 
gers have  been  carried  on  the  steamboats  which  run  from  this  city  (New 
York),  and,  among  all  these,  the  catalogue  of  deaths  by  steam  explosions 
is  almost  inappreciable. 

"  It  is  probably  true,  that  in  hardly  any  other  circumstances  in  which 
such  numbers  have  been  placed,  has  the  occurrence  of  mortality  been  so 
entirely  wanting.  It  is  with  a  strong  sense  of  injustice,  therefore,  that 
those  who  are  engaged  in  this  important  and  not  always  profitable  avoca- 
tion have  found  themselves  selected  as  the  objects  of  special,  and,  sefem- 
ingly,  invidious  legislation." 

Disasters  at  sea  in  the  year  1839. 

A  record  has  been  kept  at  the  office  of  the  American  Seamen's  Friend 
Society,  during  the  year  just  closed,  as  in  past  years,  of  disasters  at  sea,  so 
far  as  they  could  be  ascertained,  which  resulted  in  a  total  loss  of  the  ves- 
sel.   The  following  is  the  result : 

• 

-  74 

-  124 

-  187 

-  16 


The  whole  number  of  vessels  lost  is  442. 

Of  these  there  were,  Ships  and  barks 
"  "  Brigs  - 

"  "  Schooners 

"         "  Sloops  - 


Doc.  No.  158.  25 

Of  these  there  were,  Steamboats       -  -  -  9 

"  «  Unknown        -  -  32 


442 

Of  these  there  were  lost,  toward  the  close  of  1838, 

but  were  reported  in  1839  -  ••  -  -  52 

Wrecked  in  January  -          -  -  -  26 

"          February           -  -  -  27 

March    -          -  -  -  -  32 

"          April      -          -  -  -  -  21 

«          May       -          -  -  -  -  29 

"          June      -          -  -  -  -  18 

"          July       -          -  -  -  15 

"          August  -          -  -  -  -  29 

"          September         -  -  -  64 

«          October            -  -  -  -  30 

"          November         -  -  -  27 

"          December          -  -  -  8 

Time  unknown         ,-  -  -  61 


Added  to  the  above  entire  and  known  losses,  there  have  been  reported 
thirty-seven  missing  vessels  during  the  year,  which,  with  their  crews, 
have  most  probably  been  entirely  lost.  Five  hundred  and  thirty-seven 
lives  have  been  reported  as  lost ;  but  the  loss  of  life  is  undoubtedly  much 
greater  than  this,  as  many  vessels  were  reported  as  abandoned,  or  bottom- 
up,  where  the  crew  was  missing,  and  no  intelligence  has  been  received 
from  them.  The  above  facts  speak  a  language  concerning  the  sorrows  of 
seamen  not  to  be  misunderstood  ;  and  they  should  be  most  solemnly  pon- 
dered by  those  who  have  a  heart  to  feel  and  a  hand  to  relieve. — Sailor's 
Magazine,  January/,  1S40. 

In  the  foregoing  list*  we  have  reported  the  loss  of  84  vessels  in  the 
month  of  December,  and  the  loss  of  89  lives ;  which,  if  added  to  the  89 
vessels  and  90  lives  lost  in  the  great  gale  of  the  15th  of  that  month,  and 
to  eight  other  vessels  reported  as  lost  in  December  in  our  last  Magazine, 
we  have  a  total  of  181  vessels  and  179  lives  lost  within  that  month. — 
Sailor's  Magazine,  February,  1840. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  the  Sailor's  Magazine  for  March,  1840,  also 
records  the  loss,  by  fire,  foundering,  or  wreck,  of  fifteen  more  vessels  in 
1839 ;  and  reports,  also,  in  February  and  March,  eleven  vessels  as  mis- 
sing, for  the  safety  of  which,  with  their  crews  and  passengers,  little  or  no 
hopes  are  entertained.  The  accounts  of  total  loss  for  1839,  so  far  as  heard, 
stand  as  follows : 

Losses  mentioned  in  the  Magazine  for  January        -  884 
"  "  "  "  February      -  173 

"     and  missing  "  March  -  11 


1068 

Deduct  steamvessels  included  in  the  above  9 


Total  1059 


*  This  detailed  list  is  omitted  here. 


26 


Doc.  No.  158. 


Thus  showing  the  total  loss  of  more  than  one  thousand  vessels,  already 
ascertained,  and  the  probable  loss  of  between  one  and  two  thousand  val- 
uable lives,  all  in  a  single  year! 

Are  these  immense  losses  of  life  and  property,  which  had  been  entirely 
subjected  to  the  care  and  control,  discretion  or  indiscretion,  of  the  owners 
of  vessels  and  of  their  several  commanders,  while  at  a  distance  from  all 
wholesome  oversight  and  restraint,  less  worthy  of  the  special  interference 
of  the  power  which  is  authorized  to  regulate  commerce,  than  the  persons 
and  property  embarked  in  steamboats,  which  are  under  the  almost  con- 
stant oversight  of  the  owners  and  the  public?  Or,  must  the  result  of 
popular  misapprehensions  and  erroneous  excitements  be  substituted  for 
more  sober  legislation,  in  controlling  the  business  concerns  of  this  grow- 
ing republic  ? 

It  is  believed  that  the  statistics  which  are  found  in  the  foregoing  table, 
of  the  steam-navigation  of  the  port  of  New  York,  may  not  unfairly  repre- 
sent all  the  steam-navigation  of  the  United  States,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Mississippi  and  its  branches,  or  the  waters  which  discharge  in  the 
gulf  of  Mexico.  With  perhaps  this  exception,  both  the  existing  and  the 
contemplated  legislation  appear  to  be  almost  wholly  unwarranted,  either 
by  the  origin,  progress,  or  present  state,  of  the  art  of  steam-navigation. 

The  southwestern  waters,  however,  appear  subject  to  greatly  increased 
hazards,  which  may  have  resulted,  mainly,  from  a  less  perfect  system  of 
practical  engineering,  which  has  been  imposed  either  by  choice  or  neces- 
sity ;  from  less  perfect  means  of  outfit  and  repair  than  are  found  in  older 
States  or  countries  ;  and,  above  all,  from  the  greater  and  multiplied  dan- 
gers of  their  local  navigation.  It  may  be  well  questioned,  however,  if, 
even  here,  the  new  legislation  be  well  adapted  to  the  end  in  view.  If.  as 
is  believed,  there  be  errors  in  the  western  practice,  these  will  doubtless  be 
abandoned  so  soon  as  they  are  practically  seen  and  felt  to  be  errors.  But 
the  character  of  the  American  people  is  greatly  mistaken  if  it  is  for  a  mo- 
ment supposed  that  a  combination  of  prescribed  formulas,  with  inquisi- 
torial and  penal  enactments,  will  remedy  evils  which  are  beyond  the  reach 
of  professional  knowledge  and  pride,  and  an  enlightened  self-interest. 

The  true  character  of  hazard  of  the  western  steam-navigation  is  too 
often  but  little  understood,  or  but  imperfectly  appreciated.  It  has  been 
eloquently  and  justly  described  by  the  Hon.  Mr.  Rumsey,  of  Kentucky, 
on  the  floor  of  Congress,  who  vindicates  the  memory  of  the  founders  of 
steam-navigation  in  America,  and  the  results  of  their  labors,  as  follows : 

"  Sir,  you  have  no  arithmetic  of  powers  vast  enough  by  which  to  esti- 
mate the  benefits  of  the  steamboat  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view  alone. 
Their  labors,  too,  have  tended,  in  no  small  degree,  to  the  preservation  of 
human  life.  I  am  aware  that  the  truth  of  the  last  assertion  may  not  be 
universally  admitted;  but  it  will  scarcely  be  questioned,  at  least  by  a 
western  or  southwestern  man,  who  recollects  the  old  mode  of  conducting 
our  commerce.  Small  as  the  commerce  was  before  the  introduction  of  the 
steamboat,  it  drew  off  a  larger  portion  of  the  population  than  is  now  ne- 
cessary to  transact  it,  although  so  immensely  extended.  Even  then,  more 
died  in  the  long  and  exposed  and  laborious  voyages  in  keels  and  barges, 
or  the  exhausting  return  by  land,  under  a  vertical  sun,  than  now  perish 
by  steamboat  explosions.  But  they  dropped  off  one  by  one ;  they  sank 
obscurely  into  the  grave  by  the  wayside ;  or,  after  reaching  their  homes, 
fell  victims  to  disease  incurred  by  a  sojourn  and  travel  in  southern  climes. 


Doc.  No.  158. 


27 


The  consumption  of  life,  though  known  to  be  great  in  the  aggregate, 
happening  so  much  in  detail,  made  no  public  impression ;  but  now  every 
steamboat  accident  creates  a  sensation,  and  is  proclaimed  in  the  universal 
press  of  the  country.  If  the  mighty  commerce  now  in  progress  on  the 
western  waters  had  to  be  conducted  in  the  old  way,  it  would  require  the 
agency  of  so  many  individuals  that  it  would  not  be  long  before  the  sides 
of  the  public  roads,  from  New  Orleans  to  the  upper  States,  and  the  banks 
of  the  great  river  which  pours  into  the  gulf  the  congregated  waters  of 
nearly  half  a  continent,  would  be  almost  continued  graveyards." 


APPENDIX  B. 

Letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

New  York,  December  26,  1838. 

Sir:  Having  recently  been  served  with  a  copy  of  the  resolution  of 
Congress,  moved  by  Mr.  Sergeant,  for  obtaining  information  respecting 
the  use  of  the  steam-engine  in  the  United  States,  in  navigation  or  other- 
wise, and  the  accidents  which  have  resulted  therefrom,  I  am  led  to  be- 
lieve that  the  inquiry  will  be  best  answered  by  a  concise  statement  of  my 
own  observation  and  practice  for  the  last  sixteen  years,  during  which 
time  I  have  been  chiefly  engaged  in  the  construction  or  management  of 
steamvessels. 

When  I  first  engaged  in  the  application  of  steam  to  navigation,  there 
were,  as  now,  two  systems  of  engineering  practised  in  our  steamboats. 
One  of  these,  the  Bolton  and  Watt,  or  low-pressure  system,  had  been  in- 
troduced by  Pulton,  in  which  the  working  power  was  mainly  derived 
from  steam  of  low  temperature  and  expansive  force,  working  upon  an 
effective  condensation ;  the  other,  the  high-pressure  system,  in  which 
steam  of  high  elastic  force  is  worked  against  the  pressure  of  the  atmo- 
sphere. The  latter  system  was  early  introduced  in  this  country  by  the  late 
Oliver  Evans,  who  was  distinguished  for  his  mechanical  talents,  and  who 
perhaps  exceeded  all  his  contemporaries  in  his  just  apprehension  and 
prescience  of  the  powers  and  advantages  of  the  steam-engine,  as  applica- 
ble to  railroads  and  to  navigation. 

My  first  practical  acquaintance  with  the  steam-engine  was  under  the 
high-pressure  system  ;  the  adoption  of  which,  in  this  case,  grew  out  of 
circumstances  not  under  my  control.  But  an  attentive  consideration  of 
the  principles  and  practice  of  the  low-pressure  system,  served  to  convince 
me  that  the  claims  to  superiority,  both  for  efficiency  and  safety,  which  had 
been  mutually  set  up  by  the  advocates  of  the  two  systems,  could  not  be 
justly  maintained. 

It  appeared  obvious  that  the  useful  effect  of  highly  elastic  steam  could 
be  greatly  increased  by  acting  with  lesser  pressure  on  the  surface  of  a 
larger  piston,  working  on  an  effective  condensation  ;  while  the  tension 
and  wearing  of  the  different  parts,  and  the  danger  of  explosion  common 
to  high-pressure  engines,  would  thus  be  materially  lessened.  It  appeared 
equally  certain  that  the  engine  of  Bolton  and  Watt  could  be  rendered 


28 


Doc.  No.  158. 


more  useful  and  efficient  by  adapting  it  to  steam  of  greater  pressure  and 
elasticity  than  was  at  that  time  employed ;  and  that  by  proper  modifica- 
tions in  the  structure  of  the  boilers,  a  degree  of  safety  could  also  be  se- 
cured which  had  never  yet  been  attained.  The  high -pressure  system,  as 
then  practised,  required  a  tension  of  steam  approaching,  as  [  conceived, 
too  near  the  estimated  strength  of  the  boilers  in  which  it  was  generated, 
to  be  deemed  safe  in  all  circumstances  ;  a  consideration  of  the  highest  im- 
portance in  navigation.  It  also  appeared  that  the  use  of  low  pressure  steam, 
after  the  English  method,  with  weak  boilers,  in  which  any  accidental  in- 
crease of  pressure  to  the  amount  of  perhaps  half  an  atmosphere,  could 
hardly  fail  to  be  attended  with  fatal  disaster,  was  equally  unsafe;  and  that 
this  practice,  although  universally  sanctioned  in  England,  ought  not  to  be 
folloAved  in  our  steam-navigation. 

From  these  considerations,  it  appeared  to  me  evident  that  the  greatest 
degree  of  safety  and  efficiency  could  only  be  obtained  by  combining,  to 
some  extent,  the  peculiarities  of  the  two  systems,  and  by  adopting  such 
forms  of  structure  in  the  boilers  as  should  afford  the  greatest  attainable 
amount  of  surplus  strength,  between  the  maximum  working  pressure  and 
the  point  of  actual  danger  to  the  boiler.  I  determined,  therefore,  that  in 
all  cases  under  my  control,*  the  extra  or  surplus  strength  of  the  boiler  should 
always  be  as  great  as  might  be  fairly  practicable ;  a  principle  which,  after 
this  lapse  of  time,  I  have  found  sufficient  reason  to  recommend  to  others 
for  adoption. 

Upon  this  principle  of  the  greatest  attainable  strength,  were  also  con- 
structed the  boilers  of  the  high-pressure  steamboat  in  which,  as  before 
mentioned,  I  was  first  led  to  engage.  This  steamboat  was,  for  the  period 
of  four  years,  under  my  immediate  observation  before  being  dismantled, 
and  during  this  time,  no  injury  by  explosion  or  eruption  of  steam,  and, 
probably,  not  the  least  hazard  thereof,  was  known  to  occur ;  nor  do  I  find 
reason  to  believe  that,  in  ordinary  hands,  the  use  of  these  boilers  could 
have  been  rendered  dangerous,  either  to  the  passengers  on  board  or  to 
those  intrusted  with  their  management. 

In  the  meantime,  I  was  engaged  in  the  first  successful  attempt  to  estab- 
lish steam  navigation  on  the  Connecticut  river,  between  the  cities  of 
Hartford  and  New  York,  by  means  of  a  competent  steamboat  of  low- 
pressure  construction.  In  this  case,  my  own  views  of  safety  and  efficiency, 
as  before  mentioned,  would  have  required  an  important  modification,  and 
addition  of  strength,  in  the  boiler  which  was  furnished  for  this  boat.  At 
this  period,  however,  the  influence  which  was  exercised  upon  public 
opinion  by  the  associates  and  friends  of  Fulton  and  Livingston,  through 
the  medium  of  the  press  and  the  intercourse  between  their  captains  and 
the  travelling  public,  had  extensively  induced  the  belief  that  the  plans 
adopted  in  the  Fulton  boats,  and  those  only,  were  safe  and  proper ;  and  a 
general  conformity  thereto  was  deemed  to  be  indispensable,  by  those  who 
professed  to  represent  the  public  interests.  In  this  case,  therefore,  the 
plan  of  construction  adopted  for  the  boilers  and  engine  was  like  that  of 
other  low-pressure  engines  then  building  for  the  New  York  waters  ;  the 
boiler,  which  was  of  iron,  being  large,  and  the  engine  fitted  with  D  slide 
valves,  and  adapted  to  a  speed  in  the  piston  of  160  to  200  feet  per  minute, 
like  the  English  marine-engine  now  in  use.  It  is  but-just  to  state,  how- 
ever, that  the  boiler  in  question,  and  also  most  of  those  which  were  used 
in  the  Fulton  boats,  were  of  greater  strength  than  the  boilers  which  are 


Doc.  No.  158. 


29 


commonly  used  in  England  for  low-pressure  engines.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  the*  advantages  of  a  greater  expansive  power  were  beginning  to  be 
understood ;  and  as  confidence  in  the  strength  of  these  boilers  increased, 
the  practice  of  increasing  the  working  pressure  upon  them  gradually  gain- 
ed ground,  so  as  ultimately  to  neutralize  the  advantage  of  the  increased 
strength  which  had  been  given  to  them  beyond  that  of  the  original  En- 
glish models.  This  steamboat  (the  Oliver  Ell swortli)  commenced  running 
between  New  York  and  Hartford  in  the  spring  of  1824,  immediately  after 
the  removal  of  the  restrictions  in  favor  of  Fulton  and  Livingston,  by  the 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States ;  and  my  connexion 
with  this  boat  terminated  in  the  following  year.  I  have  noticed  these 
facts  as  illustrating,  in  some  degree,  the  chief  cause  of  the  explosions 
which  have  since  occurred  in  the  steamboats  navigating  on  the  various 
routs  leading  from  the  city  of  New  York  ;  and  the  name  of  this  boat  will 
hereafter  appear  in  the  catalogue  of  these  accidents. 

In  1824,  '25,  I  was  engaged  in  the  construction  of  the  steamvessels 
Commerce  and  Swiftsure,  and  the  safety-barges  and  freighting  vessels 
which  have  since  been  towed  on  the  Hudson  chiefly  by  these  steamers ; 
having  acted  as  principal  engineer  and  general  agent  of  "  The  Steam 
Navigation  Company,"  to  which  these  vessels  belonged.*  Having  been 
left  free  in  the  application  of  means  to  ends,  except  as  measurably  con- 
trolled by  the  opinions  and  habits  of  the  contractors  and  artificers  employ- 
ed, I  at  once  adopted  the  strongest  form  of  boiler  that  appeared  applicable 
to  the  general  combinations  which  were  then  chosen.  The  plan  of  com- 
bining the  advantages  of  the  high  with  the  low-pressure  system,  at  an 
intermediate  pressure  of  steam,  was  adopted  for  these  vessels,  as  being 
best  suited  to  the  service  for  which  they  were  designed.  At  that  early 
stage  of  our  improvements  in  the  marine  engine,  the  plan  of  uniting  these 
advantages  in  a  single  working  cylinder,  and  of  making  a  more  efficient 
application  of  them  by  means  of  an  increased  velocity  of  the  piston,  had 
not  come  into  practice.f  Double  engines  were  therefore  employed,  com- 
prising two  cylinders  of  unequal  diameters,  the  smaller  one  receiving  the 
steam  from  the  boilers  and  delivering  it  expansively  to  the  larger  one ; 
the  latter  being  worked  upon  an  effective  condensation.  These  vessels, 
with  their  engines,  have  been  employed  for  fourteen  years,  with  little 
modification,  and  mostly  under  severe  duty ;  but  no  accident  of  an  explo- 
sive or  eruptive  character  has  ever  occurred,  and  they  appear  capable  of 
rendering  good  service  for  several  years  yet  to  come.  The  boilers,  during 
this  period,  have  been  twice  renewed,  on  plans  combining  additional 
strength  and  convenience. 

I  may  here  state  that  no  accident  from  the  explosion  or  rupture  of  a 
steam  boiler  has  ever  occurred  in  the  steamboats  under  my  particular 
charge;  and  the  remark  might  also  be  extended  to  other  steamboats, 
which  have  been  furnished  with  boilers  made  under  my  directions.  That 
this  result  has  been  chiefly  owing  to  the  superior  care  or  skill  of  my  sub- 


*  In  this  communication  I  use  the  term  "  engineer"  in  the  double  sense  which  common  usage 
has  assigned  to  it  in  this  country,  it  beins:  descriptive  alike  of  him  who  controls  and  directs  the 
specific  use  and  combination  of  materials  which  are  needful  to  a  machine  or  superstructure, 
and  of  one  who  is  employed  in  the  ordinary  charge  of  a  steam  engine. 

t  For  establishing  the  advantages  ot  this  simple  combination,  if  I  mistake  not,  we  are  mainly 
indebted  to  the  practical  talent  of  Robert  L.  Stevens,  Esq. 


30 


Doc.  No.  158. 


ordinates,  wlio  have  had  the  immediate  charge  of  the  boilers  and  engines, 
I  cannot  believe;  for,  trustworthy  as  were  most  of  these  men,  they  have 
partaken  of  the  general  character  of  their  fellow  men,  in  and  out  of  this 
profession,  and  have,  probably,  no  better  claims  to  infallibility.  Boilers 
of  a  structure  which  afford  the  proper  degree  of  surplus  strength  may  be 
injured  as  well  as  others,  by  the  carelessness  or  neglect  of  those  in  imme- 
diate charge ;  but  are  not  likely,  even  with  bad  management,  to  destroy 
life  by  explosion. 

The  bearing  of  the  considerations  which  have  been  stated  should  be 
considered  as  fully  applicable  to  engines  and  boilers  of  every  grade,  wheth- 
er for  high  or  low  pressure.  Nor  will  the  use  of  boilers  of  the  greatest 
attainable  strength,  have  any  tendency  to  promote  in  the  engineer  a  dis- 
position for  hazardous  or  untried  adventures,  nor  to  prevent  him  from 
appreciating  those  other  substantial  improvements  in  the  art  or  science  of 
engineering,  as  applied  to  steam  navigation,  which  have  been  realized 
within  the  last  fourteen  years. 

Having  stated  the  general  manner  in  which  the  steamboats  and  other 
vessels  of  the  Steam  Navigation  Company  have  been  constructed  and 
managed,  it  is  only  necessary  to  add,  that  the  sale  or  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors  has  not  been  allowed  in  these  vessels  for  the  last  eight  years,  and 
I  believe  that  this  rule  cannot  be  commended  too  strongly. 

Explosions  of  boilers  on  the  New  York  steamboats. 

In  May,  1824,  the  public  were  astounded  by  the  disastrous  explosion 
on  board  the  Etna,  while  navigating  the  waters  of  our  bay,  a  few  miles 
from  the  city.  The  engine  and  boilers  of  this  boat  had  been  constructed 
upon  the  plans  of  Evans,  and  in  conformity  with  his  ultra  views  in  favor 
of  diminutive  passages,  both  for  the  steam  and  supply  of  water:  and  she 
had  recently  been  brought  round  from  the  Delaware,  and  employed  be- 
tween this  city  and  the  Raritan.  No  proper  examination  of  the  facts  at- 
tending this  case,  such  as  the  interests  of  the  public  and  the  profession 
required,  was  ever  made  ;  but,  as  near  as  could  be  ascertained  from  private 
statements,  and  the  judicial  testimony  then  published,  the  small  pipe 
through  which  water  was  supplied  to  the  boilers  had  become  stopped,  or 
nearly  so,  by  incrustation ;  and  the  supply  falling  short,  the  boilers  were 
too  strongly  heated  upon  their  lower  surface,  and  were  then  left  to  their 
fate,  while  the  fire  should  exhaust  itself.  Upon  this  statement,  however,  I  do 
not  think  it  safe  to  rely,  as  all  subsequent  observation  and  inquiry  have 
shown  me  that  no  statements  are  more  to  be  distrusted  than  those  which 
gain  circulation  under  the  terrors  and  excitements  of  these  accidents.  I 
had  opportunity,  however,  to  examine  the  remains  of  the  ruptured  boiler, 
which  was  of  the  cylindrical  form,  without  flues,  about  thirty  inches  in  di- 
ameter and  twenty  feet  in  length,  and  had  been  some  time  in  use.  The 
iron  plates  of  the  boiler  were  mainly  sound  and  good,  and  from  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  boiler  was  torn,  it  appeared  that  the  rending,  though 
sudden,  was  also  progressive ;  and  I  felt  desirous  to  ascertain,  if  possible, 
the  first  point  of  eruption.  With  this  object,  I  traced  back  the  rent  from 
its  final  termination,  on  the  main  part  of  the  boiler,  and,  supposing  the 
parts  again  restored,  successively,  to  their  original  position,  followed  the 
rent  spirally  around  the  boiler,  to  where  it  had  separated  from  the  opposite 
end,  which  had  been  projected  from  the  boat,  and  lost  in  the  river.  At 


Doc.  No.  158. 


31 


this  point,  I  found  the  line  of  separation  passing  through  one  of  the  rivet- 
ed joints  on  the  under  side,  which  had  stood  directly  over  the  fire ;  and 
this  joint  showed  itself  to  have  been  previously  separated,  by  a  crack  o  f  long 
standing,  and  of  considerable  extent,  in  the  line  of  rivets.  This  older  frac- 
ture, occupied  the  spaces  between  several  contiguous  rivets  in  one  of  the 
sheets,  and,  without  doubt,  had  gradually  attained  the  extent  which  was 
then  discernable  by  its  oxydated  surface,  owing  to  the  frequent  expansion 
and  contraction  of  this  part  of  the  boiler,  and  aided,  also,  by  the  constant 
sagging  effect  of  its  weight,  while  supported  only  at  its  two  extremities.  I 
will  here  remark,  that  boilers  of  small  or  of  moderate  diameter  should  al- 
ways be  supported  near  their  centres  by  lifting-bolts,  passing  through  a 
strong  beam  above  the  boilers,  or  by  some  other  arrangement  which  is 
equivalent  thereto. 

The  pressure  under  which  the  boilers  of  the  Etna  were  worked  was 
said  to  be  from  100  to  150  pounds  to  the  square  inch,  and  it  is  probable 
that  this  pressure  had  been  greatly  exceeded  on  some  previous  occasions. 

The  explosion  of  this  high-pressure  boat,  so  recently  introduced  upon 
our  waters,  occasioned  the  greatest  excitement ;  and  the  opportunity  was 
seized  upon  to  prejudice  and  exasperate  the  public  mind  against  the  own- 
ers and  managers  of  all  steamboats  which  were  furnished  with  iron- 
boilers — those  then  used  in  the  Fulton  boats  being  of  copper ;  and  espe- 
cially was  this  odium  directed  against  all  those  whose  boats  were  sup- 
posed to  approximate  to  the  use  of  high  pressure.  Several  new  boats 
were  then  in  the  process  of  construction,  and  the  owners  of  some  of  these 
felt  themselves  compelled  to  yield  to  the  storm  of  prejudice  in  favor  of 
copper-boilers  of  large  and  insecure  construction,  approximating  to  the  old 
English  models,  with  the  general  exception  that  the  fire  was  placed  within 
the  body,of  the  boiler,  and  the  use  of  brick-work  was  dispensed  with ; 
and  the  old  dogma  of  security  in  the  weakness,  instead  of  the  strength  of 
the  boiler,  now  found  numerous  advocates.  An  active  and  intelligent 
gentleman,  then  acting  as  agent  for  one  of  the  finest  boats  at  that  time 
building  for  our  waters,  on  being  remonstrated  with  for  yielding  his  bet- 
ter judgment  to  this  prejudice,  and  thus  endangering  the  future  security 
of  his  fellow-citizens  who  might  become  passengers,  told  me  frankly  that 
his  owners,  as  well  as  himself,  were  fully  convinced  of  the  superior 
strength  and  safety  of  iron-boilers,  and  the  advantages  of  modifying  their 
structure  ;  "  but,"  said  he,  "  we  cannot  resist  public  opinion  ;  the  people 
have  been  instructed  that  iron  is  an  unsafe  material  for  boilers,  and  that 
it  is  recklessly  used  because  it  is  cheapest.  It  is  beyond  our  power  to 
disabuse  them  in  this  matter;  and  they  threaten  us,  moreover,  that,  if  we 
will  not  give  them  a  boat  with  a  copper-boiler,  they  will  procure  such  a 
one  and  run  it  against  us.  We  have  concluded,  therefore,  to  give  them 
a  copper-boiler,  the  strongest  of  its  class,  and  have  made  up  our  minds 
that  they  have  a  perfect  right  to  be  scalded  by  copper-boilers  if  they  insist 
on  it."  I  lament  to  add,  that  the  exercise  of  this  "  right,"  to  the  use  of 
copper,  was  attended,  within  a  few  years,  with  a  fearful  destruction  of  life, 
as  had  been  foretold. 

I  am  sorry  to  add,  that  the  conductors  of  our  public  journals  were 
mainly  instrumental  in  enforcing  upon  the  owners  of  steamboats  this 
false  standard  of  safety,  both  as  relates  to  the  use  of  copper  and  to  the 
form  of  the  boiler ;  and  that  to  this  cause  must  be  chiefly  ascribed  the  un- 
happy destruction  of  human  life  which  occurred  in  our  New  York  steam- 


32 


Doc.  No.  158. 


boats  during  the  ensuing  eight  years.  Not  that  all  boilers  were,  in  con- 
sequence, made  of  copper;  for,  by  far  the  greatest  number  brought  into 
use  were  of  iron,  because  of  its  known  superior  strength  but  this  untow- 
ard influence  mainly  controlled  the  structure  of  these  boilers,  which 
were  generally  confined  to  the  strictly  low-pressure  form,  exposing  greatly 
expanded  surfaces  to  the  action  of  steam,  without  adequate  support.  For- 
tunately, some  of  those  who  were  then  engaged  in  the  construction  and 
management  of  steamboats,  possessed  more  firmness  than  to  yield  to  this 
influence,  and  in  devising  their  combinations  were  governed  only  by  their 
own  knowledge  and  sense  of  the  means  proper  to  be  used,  in  order  to  en- 
sure both  safety  and  efficiency  ;  and  in  the  steamboats  so  controlled,  I  am 
happy  to  state,  such  disasters  have  been  entirely  unknown. 

About  the  same  period,  however,  two  other  disasters,  of  a  serious  char- 
acter, occurred  in  steamboats  furnished  with  copper-boilers.  One  of  these 
accidents,  on  board  the  Fidelity,  seriously  injured  or  caused  the  death  of 
two  or  three  persons. 

The  other  case  was  on  board  the  Jersey,  one  of  the  Fulton  boats  em- 
ployed on  the  Jersey  City  ferry.  This  explosion  was  second  in  violence 
only  to  that  of  the  Etna ;  and  was  less  destructive  merely  from  the  ab- 
sence of  passengers  to  be  exposed,  there  being  fortunately  but  one  or  two 
persons  on  board  at  the  time  of  the  accident. 

Another  fatal  disaster  occurred  also  *in  1825,  with  a  low-pressure  cop- 
per-boiler which  had  just  been  placed  on  board  the  steamboat  Patent,  in 
which  the  lamented  Dodd  and  several  other  persons,  who  were  exposed, 
lost  their  lives.  Previous  to  this,  also,  the  Paragon,  one  of  Mr.  Fulton's 
boats,  running  on  the  North  river,  met  with  a  similar  accident,  which 
was  attended  with  the  loss  of  life.  Again,  at  Elizabethtown  point,  four- 
teen miles  from  the  city,  in  1813,  a  low-pressure  boiler  on  boara\  the  Sea- 
Horse  had  exploded,  with  a  pressure  of  steam  not  exceeding  five  pounds 
to  the  square  inch.*  But  the  bearing  of  all  these  cases  was  strangely 
overlooked,  and  palliatives  were  to  be  found,  or  uncontrollable  causes  dis- 
covered, by  invoking  the  aid  of  dangerous  and  unknown  gases :  or  some 
unhappy  fireman  or  engineer  was  made  the  scapegoat,  who,  by  his  un- 
doubted misconduct  or  recklessness,  had  rendered  dangerous  and  de- 
structive, that  which  had  previously  been  declared  to  be  safe  and  incapa- 
ble of  serious  mischief! 

And  now  came  the  incitement  of  active  competition  on  the  navigable 
routes  leading  from  this  city,  then  newly  thrown  open  to  all  competitors. 
Old  steamboats  were  found  too  slow,  and  new  ones  were  daily  acquiring 
additional  speed.  So  far  as  this  result  alone  is  concerned,  this  was  as  it 
should  be  ;  but  unhappily,  the  greatly  expanded  boiler,  whether  of  iron, 
or  copper,  being  deemed  stronger  than  was  necessary  for  the  pressure 
which  had  hitherto  been  used,  must  now  bear  a  greater  load,  and  gradu- 
ally became  worked  more  nearly  to  its  full  strength  and  capacity.  In  the 
summer  of  1825,  the  Constitution,  a  new  boat,  collapsed  one  of  the  large 
irregular  shaped  flues  in  her  iron  boiler,  when  near  Poughkeepsie,  and 
killed  or  injured  several  persons.  In  this  case  some  of  the  explosion 
theorists  were  content  to  admit  that  there  was  no  want  of  water ;  but 
loud  was  the  outcry  which  was  again  raised  against  iron-boilers. 


*  Journal  of  the  American  Institute  lor  September,  1838,  page  64G. 


Doc.  No.  158. 


33 


The  next  case  in  order  is  the  explosion  on  board  the  steamboat  Legis- 
lator, in  1825,  while  lying  at  our  wharves,  ready  to  start  on  her  trip  to 
New  Brunswick.  This  boat  was  furnished  with  a  low-pressure  iron- 
boiler,  of  nine  and  a  half  feet  in  diameter,  constructed  by  the  late  Robert 
McQueen,  according  to  the  then  improved  low-pressure  pattern.  The 
interior  shell  containing  the  furnace  was  about  nine  feet  in  lateral  diam- 
eter, flattened  into  an  ellipse  at  top,  and  supported  on  the  outer  shell  at 
the  bottom  and  sides  by  an  occasional  brace-bolt ;  the  general  use  of 
these  fastenings  not  having  then  received  the  sanction  of  our  boiler-ma- 
kers. The  pressure  of  steam  on  the  boiler  at  the  time  of  this  explosion 
was  said  to  be  between  ten  and  thirteen  inches  by  the  mercurial  gauge.*" 
The  interior  portion  of  the  boiler  was  violently  torn  and  turned  inside 
out,  with  the  destruction  of  every  thing  near  the  boiler,  and  of  the  lives 
of  five  or  six  persons  employed  on  the  boat;  but  the  outer  shell,  which 
was  cylindrical,  remained  uninjured.  On  examining  this  boiler,  I  found 
that  the  rending  was  principally  in  its  lower  portions,  and  that  if  the 
parts  were  all  turned  back  to  their  proper  places,  the  last  points  to  come 
together  would  be  those  portions  at  the  bottom  of  the  ash-pit  beneath  the 
furnace  bars.  At  this  point  the  iron  was  not  more  than  three-sixteenths 
of  an  inch  in  thickness,  and  had  separated  into  thin  lamellated  plates,  not 
having  united  properly  under  the  roller.  Thus  the  rupture  in  this  case 
evidently  originated  at  the  lowest  part  of  the  boiler,  at  the  weakest  point, 
and  under  a  head  of  some  six  feet  of  water.  But  these  facts  were  not  in- 
vestigated, and  it  was  sagely  assumed  by  manufacturers  of  boilers  and 
other  advocates  of  this  stereotyped  hypothesis,  that  this  explosion  could 
not  possibly  have  happened  had  there  been  a  competent  supply  of  water 
in  the  boiler.  On  the  other  hand,  I  consider  it  demonstrable  that  a  boiler 
of  this  size  and  construction,  without  a  thorough  system  of  bracing,  is 
wholly  unfit  to  sustain  the  ordinary  pressure  to  which  this  boiler  was  ex- 
posed, and  which  the  managers  of  the  boat  believed  could  be  safely 
borne.  But,  instead  of  ascribing  this  disaster  to  its  true  cause,  the  im- 
perfection of  the  favorite  system  of  construction,  the  opportunity  was 
taken  to  inflame  the  opposition  to  iron  boilers,  and  to  throw  the  odium  of 
the  disaster  upon  the  perished  firemen  or  engineer. 

The  year  1826  passed  off  with  only  one  or  two  slight  accidents  of  this 
kind  among  the  New  York  boats :  one  on  board  the  Hudson,  employed 
on  the  East  river ;  and  another  on  the  Franklin,  then  running  upon  the 
North  river.    Both  these  boats  had  low  pressure  iron  boilers. 

In  the  spring  of  1827,  the  steamboat  Oliver  Ellsworth,  on  her  passage 
from  Hartford  to  New  York,  when  six  or  eight  miles  west  of  Saybrook 
light-house,  in  a  heavy  sea  and  head  wind,  burst  or  collapsed  the  main 
flue  of  her  boiler,  which  occasioned  the  loss  of  one  passenger,  the  engi- 
neer, and  one  or  two  firemen.  This  case  appears  to  have  been  univer- 
sally set  down  by  theorists  as  owing  to  extreme  carelessness,  and  to  the 
want  of  water  in  the  boiler,  f    Mr.  Penfield,  the  worthy  engineer  of  this- 


*  The  mercurial  lube  being  bent  in  the  form  of  a  syphon,  each  inch  of  elevation  causes  & 
difference  of  two  inches  in  the  actual  level  of  the  mercury,  and  an  elevation  of  thirteen  inches 
in  the  open  end  of  the  lube,  indicates  the  pressure  of  nearly  thirteen  pounds  to  each  square 
>lneh. 

tSee  certain  well-intentioned  communications  in  Document  21,  House  of  Reps,,  2dflii 
Ceng..  3d  Session. 

3 


34 


Doc.  No.  158. 


boat,  had  acquired  experience  during  four  previous  years  in  my  employ- 
ment, and  I  had  ever  found  him  a  man  of  great  care,  prudence,  and  faith- 
fulness. He  had  changed  his  employers,  with  my  consent,  on  the  open- 
ing of  that  season,  in  order  to  avail  himself  of  a  more  tempting  offer  which 
was  made  him  by  the  managers  of  the  Oliver  Ellsworth,  on  account  of 
1 1  is  known  good  qualities.  He  knew  the  value  of  the  principle  of  surplus 
strength,  under  which  he  had  acquired  experience,  and  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  condition  and  management  of  the  Oliver  Ellsworth. 
His  first  effort,  as  he  then  informed  me,  was  to  induce  the  managers  of 
this  boat  to  introduce  braces  into  their  boiler,  in  order  to  secure  the  large 
main  tlue,  which  was  four  feet  in  diameter,  made  of  quarter-inch  iron, 
without  other  support  than  that  afforded  by  the  connexions  at  its  two  ex- 
tremities. But  his  views  of  security  were  deemed  as  savoring  too  much 
of  high  pressure,  and  it  was  decided  that  a  boiler  which  had  occasion- 
ally sustained  a  pressure  of  15  or  16  inches  of  steam  by  the  mercurial 
gauge, (!)  could  be  safely  run  with  a  pressure  of  12  to  14  inches  ;  and  the 
too  modest  engineer  had  no  remedy  but  submission.  I  had  estimated  a 
pressure  of  six  inches  as  being  safe  for  this  boiler  when  constructed, 
while  others  of  high  authority  in  these  matters  then  deemed  it  entirely 
safe  with  nine  inches.  On  the  evening  of  the  accident,  the  engineer  was 
watching  both  boiler  and  engine  with  great  care  and  anxiety,  being  in- 
structed to  keep  a  full  head  of  steam,  in  order  to  encounter  with  success 
a  strong  head  wind  and  sea.  He  accordingly  kept  from  twelve  to  thir- 
teen inches,  with  a  full  head  of  water,  and  to  prevent  the  latter  from  dis- 
charging into  the  cylinder  by  the  motion  of  the  boat,  was  obliged  carefully 
to  tend  the  throttle-valve,  and  was  actually  thus  regulating  the  action  of 
an  overfilled  boiler  at  the  moment  in  which  the  explosion  took  place.  He 
.survived  the  disaster  several  weeks,  and  gave  me  from  time  to  time, 
under  no  apparent  bias  but  the  love  of  truth,  a  far  more  circumstantial 
account  of  his  care  and  management  on  this  occasion,  than  can  be  here 
introduced.  But  his  cares  and  anxieties  were  unavailing,  and  he  was 
doomed  to  the  infamy  of  having  been  the  careless  or  rash  instrument  of 
destroying  the  lives  of  his  fellow-beings,  by  the  inconsiderate  advocates 
of  the  common  explosion  theory,  who,  in  opposition  to  all  evidence,  can 
decide  by  mere  intuition,  the  want  of  water  in  the  boiler  and  the  crimi- 
nality of  the  engineer ! 

Although  confident  in  the  accuracy  of  Mr.  Penfield's  statements,  I  did 
not  fail  to  examine  closely  the  condition  of  the  boiler,  after  the  accident. 
Its  general  construction  was  not  unlike  that  of  the  Legislator  ;  having  an 
elliptical -shaped  interior  furnace  of  eight  and  a  half  feet  in  lateral  diame- 
ter, and  six  feet  in  length,  from  which  extended  a  circular  main  flue  of 
twelve  feet  in  length,  and  four  feet  in  diameter;  a  smaller  returning  flue, 
of  irregular  form,  leading  back  to  a  point  near  the  furnace,  where  it 
turned  upward  through  the  top  of  the  boiler,  and  was  there  joined  to  the 
chimney.  This  returning  flue,  on  account  of  its  irregular  form,  was 
partially  sustained  by  means  of  a  few  brace-bolts,  but  no  securities  were 
provided  for  sustaining  the  great  flue  or  interior  shell  of  the  boiler.  A 
longitudinal  outline,  showing  a  vertical  section  through  the  centre  of  the 
main  flue,  is  here  represented : 


Doc.  No.  15S.  35 


A  vertical  section  of  the  Oliver  Ellsworth's  first  boiler. 


h 

to 

 a.  _  

i              ■  — J 

/,  furnace  flue;  g,  main  flue;  u\  water  line;  d,  steam  chamber  ;  li,  chimney;  a,  point  of 
Iracture ,  b,  disruption..    Scale.  J  inch  u  a  loo',  or  1  0C>. 

On  examining  the  parts  which,  in  case  of  a  deficiency  of  water,  would 
have  been  first  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  fire,  it  was  found  that  neither 
the  top  of  the  furnace  flue  at  c,  immediately  over  the  fire,  nor  the  top 
of  the  main  flue,  on  the  same  level,  nor  any  other  part  of  the  flues,  ap- 
peared to  be  in  any  manner  affected  by  the  heat';  but,  on  the  contrary, 
the  iron  on  the  upper  part  of  the  fine  appeared  to  be,  for  the  most  part, 
as  clean,  and  in  as  sound  condition,  as  during  the  first  use  of  the  boiler, 
with  but  one  exception,  now  to  be  noticed.  This  exception  was  found 
in  the  line  of  fracture  at  the  point  b,  where  the  curved  lines  represent  the 
position  to  which  the  highest  point  of  the  main  flue  had  been  depressed 
by  the  disruptive  force,  and  by  which  the  original  fracture  at  a  had  been 
extended  around  nearly  half  of  the  circumference  of  the  flue  ;  the  circu- 
lar top  of  the  latter,  being  depressed  into  the  form  of  an  inverted  curve, 
extending  from  the  fracture  in  opposite  directions.  Now,  at  the  point  a, 
(which  is  placed  at  6,  by  the  disruption,  as  just  mentioned),  the  trace  of 
a  previous  fracture  in  the  line  of  rivets  was  distinctly  visible  for  some 
eight  or  ten  inches,  transversely  to  the  top  of  the  flue,  which  fracture, 
judging  from  its  appearance,  must  have  existed  for  a  considerable  time 
previous  to  the  final  disruption. 

Nothing,  therefore,  could  appear  more  certain  than  the  fact  of  a  full  sup- 
ply of  water  previous  to  and  at  the  time  of  this  accident;  and  the  disrup- 
tion was  evidently  caused  by  an  amount  of  working  pressure  to  which  the 
diminished  strength  of  the  boiler,  at  this  point,  proved  to  be  unequal,  al- 
though the  boiler  had  sometimes  been  worked  with  even  a  higher  pres- 
sure, before  the  incipient  fracture  here  noticed,  had  originated  or  become 
.so  extensive. 

In  the  boilers  of  the  Etna,  as  in  other  cases  where  the  boilers  have  been 
long  suspended  by  their  two  extremities,  this  insidious  sort  of  fracture  was 
induced  at  or  near  the  lower  surface ,  by  the  joint  action  of  weight  and  une- 
qual expansion  ;  but  the  main  flue  of  the  Oliver  Ellsworth  was  constant- 
ly surrounded  by  water,  and  pressed  upward  by  a  force  equal  to  the 
whole  weight  of  water  displaced  by  this  capacious  flue,  which,  after  de- 
ducting the  weight  of  the  flue,  is  equal  to  more  than  10,000  pounds.  *  The 


*  The  length  of  the  furnace  is  included  in  the  estimate. 


36 


Doc.  No.  158. 


fracture,  in  this  case,  therefore,  was  gradually  induced  at  the  top  of  the 
flue,  which  was  also  most  exposed  to  heat  and  the  unequal  strain  of  ex- 
pansion. The  origin  of  this  species  of  fracture  may,  perhaps,  be  referred 
to  the  process  of  manufa  iurc,  in  which  it  is  common  to  force  the  rivet- 
holes,  which  do  not  properly  overlie  each  other,  by  driving  a  steel  pin  into 
the  same  ;  a  practice  which  is  well  calculated  to  cause  the  sheets  to  sepa- 
rate in  the  line  of  rivets. 

This  disaster  induced  the  owners  of  the  Oliver  Ellsworth  to  procure  a 
heavy  copper  boiler,  in  compliance  with  the  clamor  against  iron  boilers, 
which  on  this  occasion  was  again  renewed.  At  a  subsequent  period  this 
boat  was  purchased  by  myself  and  associates,  and  transferred  to  the  Hud- 
son river;  care  being  taken  to  remove  her  large  copper  boiler,  and  to  fur- 
nish her  with  a  boiler  constructed  on  the  before-mentioned  principle  of 
giving  the  greatest  practicable  amount  of  strength,  beyond  the  working 
pressure,  that  could  conveniently  be  obtained.  The  result  has  been  that 
this  boat  has  not  only  run  with  entire  safety,  but  is,  even  now,  with  her 
antiquated  engine,  much  more  serviceable  and  efficient  than  when  em- 
ployed upon  her  original  route,  although  the  steamers  constructed  contem- 
poraneously with  this  vessel  have  disappeared  from  our  waters.    In  truth, 

I  consider  this  steamboat  as  being  at  this  day  far  more  safe  from  fatal  casu- 
alties than  most  of  the  steamboats  now  on  our  waters.  The  boiler  is  some- 
times worked  with  a  pressure  of  two  atmospheres  above  the  common  boil- 
ing point,  while  it  possesses  a  strength  which  will  bear  a  pressure  of  eight 
atmospheres,  leaving  a  range  of  strength  equal  to  more  than  six  atmo- 
spheres between  the  maximum  working  pressure  and  the  point  of  proximate 
hazard ;  and  this  is  believed  to  have  been  accomplished  without  any  sac- 
rifice either  of  original  cost  or  of  economy  in  the  use  of  fuel.  If  a  propor- 
tionate range  of  surplus  strength  had  always  been  given  to  the  boilers  of 
marine  engines,  it  is  believed  that  steamboat  explosions  would  seldom,  if 
ever,  have  been  heard  of,  notwithstanding  the  hypotheses  which  are  so 
generally  and  confidently  relied  upon  as  accounting  for  these  explosions. 

In  April,  1830,  the  steamboat  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  employed  on  the 
Hudson,  burst  her  boiler,  while  landing  passengers  atNewburg,  by  which 

II  persons  were  killed  and  many  others  wounded.  This  boiler  was  of 
stout  copper,  and  very  strongly  built, on  the"  lowpressure  plan,"  and  was 
more  thoroughly  braced,  it  is  believed,  than  any  other  boiler  of  its  date. 
The  structure,  however,  was  a  very  large  one,  on  the  general  plan  of  the 
boilers  in  the  Legislator,  Oliver  Ellsworth, and  other  boats  of  that  day;  the 
main  flue  being  also  circular,  and  five  feet  or  more  in  diameter.  The  dis- 
ruption, we  are  informed,  "  was  ten  feet  back  from  the  front  of  the  boiler,, 
and  was  probably  eight  feet  in  length,  by  four  in  width,  commencing  nearly 
at  the  bottom  of  the  flue,  and  extending  upward  «  little  over  one-half  of  its 
diameter. 

We  may  safely  infer  that  this  explosion,  commencing  near  the  bottom 
of  the  boiler,  and  four  to  six  feet  below  the  water-line,  was  not  occasioned 
"by  want  of  water.  The  principal  engineer,  who  survived  the  accident  a 
few  hours,  stated  to  the  captain,  near  his  last  moments,  that  there  was  less 
than  sixteen  inches  pressure  on  the  boiler  at  the  time,  which  is  probably 
true ;  and  it  is  admitted  that  the  steam  was  "  blowing  off"  through  the 
safety-valve  during  the  entire  stoppage  till  the  accident  occurred.  That 
there  was  some  unknown  defect  in  the  boiler,  it  was  supposed  by  the  en- 
gineer, is  not  improbable ;  but  neither  engineers  nor  captains  had  then 


Doc.  No.  158. 


37 


learned,  that  such  a  structure  of  such  material,  was  unsuited  for  that  pres- 
sure. The  ardent  advocates  of  copper  boilers  and  the  zealous  manufactu- 
rers of  public  opinion,  were  now  liberal  in  their  denunciations  of  the  un- 
fortunate engineer,  who,  in  their  view,  by  the  clearest  evidence,  had  been 
guilty  of  criminal  neglect  or  recklessness,  in  allowing  the  water  to  become 
so  wasted  or  reduced  as  to  occasion  this  dire  catastrophe.  Many  persons 
insisted  that  nearly  all  the  water  in  the  boiler  must  have  been  previously 
exhausted.  To  have  sought  for  facts  on  which  to  support  so  grave  a  con- 
clusion, would  have  been  deemed  an  insult  to  common  sense  ;  especially 
as  persons  had  been  brought  forward,  who,  under  their  oath,  had  testified 
to  the  previous  warning  which  they  had  heard  in  the  shrill  and  piercing 
whistle  with  which  the  discharge  of  steam  was  attended  previous  to  the 
explosion.  But,  alas,  for  common  sense  !  this  thrilling  whistle  had  pierced 
the  ears  of  the  writer,  most  uncomfortably,  thrice  in  a  week  for  several 
previous  years,  while  in  his  office  in  the  vicinity  of  the  wharf  occupied  by 
this  steamboat ;  and  was  known  to  be  owing  to  some  unfortunate  pecu- 
liarity in  the  construction  of  the  safety-valve  or  its  appendages  !  It  is  hard- 
ly necessary  to  add  that  the  upper  and  most  exposed  surface  of  the  flues  of 
this  boiler  were  found,  by  good  judges,  to  exhibit  no  traces  whatever  of 
injury  by  heat — a  circumstance  which  is  entirely  incompatible  with  the 
supposed  enormous  deficiency  in  the  supply  of  water. 

The  owners  of  this  steamboat,  having  once  been  made  the  instruments 
or  victims  of  a  factitious  public  opinion,  now  adopted  a  wiser  course,  and 
procured  two  strong  iron  boilers,  of  more  moderate  dimensions  and  better 
suited  to  the  pressure  of  sixteen  or  eighteen  inches  which  their  engine  re- 
quired ;  and  during  the  remaining  years  of  her  service,  this  boat  was  run 
without  injury  to  her  boilers.  It  may  be  noticed  that  this  disaster  was 
more  fatal  in  its  results  than  all  the  explosions  or  disruptions  of  iron  boil- 
ers which  had  then  occurred  on  the  northern  and  eastern  routes  from  this 
city.  Had  this  boiler  been  constructed  of  iron,  and  secured  in  the  same 
manner,  it  is  not  probable  that  it  would  have  given  way,  even  with  an 
addition  of  several  pounds  to  its  maximum  working  pressure,  had  such 
addition  been  fairly  practicable. 

In  the  same  year  there  occurred  a  similar  disaster  on  board  the  steam- 
boat United  States,  running  between  New  York  and  New  Haven,  by 
which  several  lives  were  lost.  The  boiler  of  this  boat  was  of  iron,  but 
constructed  on  a  plan  similar  to  those  which  have  been  mentioned.  The 
boat  was  opposite  Blackwell's  island  at  the  time  of  the  accident,  with 
twelve  and  a  half  inches  of  pressure  ;  having  frequently  worked  with  four- 
teen inches.  This  boiler,  which  had  been  recently  repaired,  also  gave  out 
near  the  bottom  of  the  main  flue,  its  upper  portions  and  the  roof  of  the 
furnace  remaining  uninjured  ;  and  yet  we  continually  hear  that  nearly  all 
of  these  accidents  have  been  occasioned  by  the  want  of  sufficient  water  in 
the  boiler !  Notwithstanding  the  severe  lesson  then  recently  received  from 
the  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  and  the  explosion  of  almost  every  copper  boil- 
er which  had  been  continued  in  use,  we  were  again  warned  by  the  pub- 
lic journals  against  the  hazard  and  cupidity  of  using  iron  boilers. 

In  1831,  the  boiler  of  the  steamboat.  General  Jackson  exploded  on  the 
Hudson,  at  Grassy  point,  while  stopping  at  the  wharf.  This  was  a  large, 
low-pressure  iron  boiler,  carrying,  it  is  said,  fourteen  inches  of  pressure  at 
the  time  of  the  disaster ;  the  safety-valve  being  open,  and  the  steam  blow- 
ing off  for  some  minutes  previous.    But  the  escape  of  steam  was  not,  per- 


38 


Doc.  No.  158. 


haps,  as  freely  allowed  as  it  should  have  been.  The  boiler  being  under 
deck,  and  breaking  out  through  its  bottom,  the  force  of  the  explosion 
threw  the  boiler  out  of  the  boat  and  into  the  river,  demolishing  the  deck 
and  causing  the  vessel  to  sink  at  the  wharf.  The  boiler  was  a  large  and 
unwieldy  structure.  It  was  partially  braced,  but  without  a  thorough  sys- 
tem of  these  fastenings,  and  was  elliptical  in  its  form;  being,  if  I  mistake 
not,  about  eleven  feet  in  its  lateral  diameter,  and  presenting  a  cross  section 
of  nearly  the  annexed  form : 

Cross  section  of  the  boiler  of  the  steamboat  General  Jackson. 


a  6 


Scale  \  inch  to  a  foot,  or  1-9G. 

The  fire  was  beneath  the  boiler,  instead  of  within  it  as  in  the  foregoing 
cases ;  the  dependent  portions  a  b  c  being  what  are  technically  called 
water-legs,  and  riveted  to  the  main  shell  of  the  boiler,  which  was  here 
perforated  with  large  openings  to  allow  of  a  free  circulation  of  the  water. 
The  return  flues  e  e  e  e  were  circular,  and  united  at  their  extremities  by 
attachments,  and  terminating  in  a  square  cross  flue,  which  communicated 
with  the  chimney ;  and  w  shows  the  water-line.  The  rending,  when 
traced  to  its  point  of  commencement,  appeared  to  have  originated  at  the 
angle  A,  where  the  water-legs  joined  to  the  boiler  y*  and  whatever  influ- 
ence the  large  perforations  in  the  shell  may  have  had  in  weakening  the 
structure,  it  is  certain  that  the  riveted  joints  on  the  line  of  disruption  show- 
ed several  preliminary  fractures  of  considerable  extent,  of  the  same  char- 
acter as  those  already  pointed  out  in  the  boilers  of  the  Etna  and  the  Oli- 
ver Ellsworth,  and  one  of  these  was  particularly  obvious  at  the  point  h.f 
The  other  portions  of  the  boiler  appeared  to  have  been  previously  in  good 
order ;  and  the  flues  and  their  flat  connexions,  though  soonest  exposed  to 
any  deficiency  of  water,  were  as  entire  and  as  perfect  in  their  condition  as 
ever.  Nothing,  however,  could  exceed  the  storm  of  indignation  which 
was  raised  against  the  captain  and  the  suffering  engineer  for  their  sup- 
posed criminal  negligence  or  recklessness  in  this  matter ;  and  instead  of 


*  Under  this  point,  also,  the  planks  were  started  from  the  boltom  of  the  boat,  which  eaased 
her  to  sink. 

t  When  this  kind  of  fracture  occurs  on  the  outward  lapping  of  the  sheets,  it  usually  causes 
a  leak,  and  is  easily  discovered  ;  but  when  it  occurs  on  the  inner  lap  of  the  boiler  iron,  it  some- 
times will  remain  tight  lor  a  long  period.  I  have  known  this  fracture  to  extend,  in  a  high- 
pressure  boiler,  to  fourteen  inches  before  it  was  detected ;  which,  with  the  ultra  pressure  some- 
limes  used  on  the  Mississippi,  would  surely  have  caused  an  explosion. 


Doc.  No.  158. 


39 


ascribing  the  disaster  to  the  obvious  weakness  of  the  boiler,  iron  boilers 
were,  as  before,  held  to  be  worthy  of  all  proscription. 

We  now  arrive  at  a  period  when  the  old  low-pressure  boilers,  and  those 
which  were  constructed  according  to  the  requirements  of  public  opinion 
at  the  epoch  of  the  Etna's  explosion,  had  been  destroyed  or  laid  aside.  A 
gradual  improvement  had,  in  the  meantime,  taken  place  in  the  construction 
of  boilers,  which,  although  leaving  much  to  be  accomplished,  had  gone 
far  to  remove  the  immediate  danger  of  explosion.  But,  with  the  new 
method  of  working  the  steam  expansively,  in  a  single  engine  of  increased 
stroke,  there  was  also  introduced  an  extension  of  the  steam-chamber  of 
the  boiler,  vertically,  around  the  flue  of  the  chimney ;  this  extension  be- 
ing of  the  cylindrical  form,  and  technically  known  as  the  steam-chimney. 
In  the  summer  of  1832,  the  steamboat  Ohio,  one  of  the  largest  on  the  Hud- 
son, burst  the  interior  shell  of  this  appendage  to  her  boiler ;  by  which  five 
persons  lost  their  lives,  three  of  whom  were  passengers.  The  boiler  was 
under  a  pressure  of  fourteen  niches  at  the  time,  and  was  often  worked 
with  eighteen  inches,  and  sometimes  with  twenty  inches.  The  disrup- 
tion took  place  about  a  foot  above  the  water-line,  in  that  part  of  the  flue 
which  is  ordinarily  subject  to  a  high  degree  of  heat.  This  flue  was  three 
and  a  half  feet  in  diameter,  unsupported  by  suitable  brace  -  bolts ;  and, 
from  the  description  of  Mr.  Ewbank,  published  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Franklin  Institute,  it  appears  that  the  iron. had  been  much  injured  by  pre- 
vious heating  and  exposure.  That  such  a  flue  should  have  given  way 
under  the  above  pressure  is  not  at  all  surprising.  Since  that  period  a  like 
accident  has  occurred  in  our  harbor,  in  one  of  the  Charleston  steamboats, 
by  which  several  lives  were  also  lost,  chiefly  of  her  own  crew.* 

But  we  have  still  to  notice  a  more  serious  disaster  than  either  of  the 
foregoing,  which  has  attended  the  use  of  copper  boilers.  The  disruption 
of  the  boiler  of  the  Oliver  Ellsworth,  and  the  warfare  of  the  press  against 
the  use  of  iron-boilers,  induced  the  owners  of  that  boat  to  provide  a  copper 
boiler,  as  the  only  means  of  restoring  confidence.  This  boiler  was  of  un- 
usual thickness,  and  secured  in  a  manner  surpassing  that  which  had  been 
previously  practised.  The  new  boiler  was  worked  with  a  pressure  of 
thirteen  to  eighteen  inches,  and  when  the  boat  subsequently  came  into 
my  hands,  as  before  noticed,  showed  evident  effects  of  this  pressure  upon 
its  form.  A  faster  and  more  modern  boat,  however,  was  soon  required  in 
her  place  ;  and  a  new  one  was  constructed,  called  the  New  England ;  and 
the  managers,  in  the  face  of  repeated  warnings  of  the  comparative  weak- 
ness and  insecurity  of  copper,  felt  bound  again  to  conform  to  public  senti- 
ment, and  accordingly  furnished  their  new  boat  with  copper  boilers.  These 
were  of  the  ordinary  thickness,  constructed  with  two  fire-arches  in  each 
boiler,  together  with  five  return-flues  of  circular  form,  and  sixteen  inches 
in  diameter.  These  boilers,  had  they  been  of  iron  (which  was  then  used 
in  nearly  all  other  boats),  would  probably  have  sustained  any  pressure  that 
was  likely  to  be  required  in  the  use  of  a  modern  expansive  engine  of  ten 


*  On  board  the  steamboat  "William  Gibbons,  on  the  21st  of  January,  1836;  which  is  the  last 
steam  accident  which  has  occurred  to  the  boats  running  from  New  York. 

It  may  here  be  remarked,  that  no  reliance  for  strength  should  ever  be  placed  upon  the  circu- 
lar form  of  the  boiler-metal,  when  the  pressure  bears  upon  the  outside  of  the  curve;  except 
when  its  diameter  is  less  than  24  or  18  inches;  and  in  no  case  where  the  metal  is  exposed  to 
heat,  above  or  near  the  water-line,  as  in  the  "  steam  chimneys." 


40 


Doc.  No.  158. 


feet  stroke;  but  the  strength  assumed  or  estimated  for  these  copper-boilers 
by  the  manufacturers,  unfortunately,  was  nearly  if  not  quite  as  great  as 
iron  of  the  same  thickness  could  have  borne.  On  the  9th  of  October,  1832, 
which  was  soon  after  this  boat  commenced  running,  her  boilers  were  both 
exploded,  with  a  pressure  of  twenty-eight  or  thirty  inches,  while  landing 
passengers  at  Essex,  on  Connecticut  river,  and  about  twenty  lives  were 
lost  on  this  occasion. 

The  influence  of  the  press  in  favor  of  copper,  as  may  have  been  seen, 
had  been  generally  overruled  by  practical  men  ;  and  the  effect  of  this  dis- 
aster was  such  as  nearly  to  put  an  end  to  the  use  of  copper  in  this  part  of  the 
country.  But  some  of  the  conductors  of  the  press  who  had  been  most 
active  in  establishing  the  untoward  influence  by  which  the  owners  of  this 
boat  had  been  governed,  were  now  loudest  in  their  denunciations;  and 
men  of  the  highest  integrity  and  benevolence,  who  had  perhaps  exceeded 
all  others  in  their  well-meant  efforts  and  sacrifices  in  order  to  ensure  safety, 
were  held  up  to  public  odium  as  being,  virtually,  the  murderers  of  their 
fellow-citizens. 

The  proprietors  of  the  New  England,  subsequently  to  the  ordinary  ju- 
dicial inquiries,  instituted  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  causes  which 
led  to  this  fatal  explosion.  They  procured  the  attendance  of  a  board  of 
examiners,  comprised  of  persons  from  different  parts  of  the  country,  deem- 
ed competent  to  the  investigation  ;  and  every  facility  was  afforded  for  the 
most  full  examination  and  inquiry  that  the  case  admitted.  The  result  of 
this  examination,  as  given  in  the  report  of  the  board,  has  been  already 
published  ;  but  its  importance,  as  connected  with  the  history  of  steamboat 
explosions,  and  its  bearing  on  the  future  safety  of  steamboats,  induces  me 
to  annex  a  copy  of  the  same  to  this  communication  ;  and  which  is  here- 
with respectfully  submitted. 

I  will,  however,  add  here,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  not  have 
opportunity  to  examine  this  report  in  full,  a  summary  of  the  facts  in  evi- 
dence, and  of  the  results  to  which  the  examiners  arrived. 

This  boat  had  been  running  but  little  more  than  a  month,  and  was  fitted 
with  two  boilers,  each  about  8  or  8^  feet  in  diameter  and  16  feet  in  length, 
placed  on  the  guards  behind  the  paddle-wheels  and  outside  of  the  hull  of 
the  boat.  Their  construction  may  be  understood  from  the  annexed  figure, 
which  represents  a  cross-section  of  the  boiler,  near  where  the  disruption 
first  took  place. 


a,  a,  lower  flues  for  arches ;  /,/,  f,/,f,  return  flues  ;  w,  water-line. 


Doc.  No.  158. 


41 


The  shell  of  the  boiler  was  torn  open  in  the  lower  arches,  and  spread 
outward  till  its  parts  met  in  an  inversed  position,  and  was  thrown  :  me 
distance  from  the  boat.  The  flues  and  steam-chimney.^  were  uninjured 
by  marks  of  heat  or  otherwise,  and  those  of  one  boiler  were  thrown  for- 
ivard  against  the  paddle-wheel  cover,  while  the  other  was  thrown  over  the 
same  into  the  river.  The  parts  of  the  deck  or  guards  lying  beneath  the 
boilers,  including  the  beams,  were  entirely  blown  off.  This  effect,  which 
was  directly  beneath  the  apparent  origin  of  the  fracture,  when  taken  in 
connexion  with  the  direction  in  which  the  parts  of  the  boilers  were  thrown, 
appeared  to  indicate  that  the  disruption  commenced  in  the  lower  flues  or 
arches,  at  the  places  which  had  shown  indications  of  straining,  or  leaks, 
on  previous  passages  (near  the  points  a  a),  and  which  had  already  re- 
ceived repairs.  The  engine  remained  uninjured,  but  the  steam-pipe  of 
the  boiler  which  first  exploded,  was  found  broken  entirely  off  from  its 
fellow,  at  the  point  of  junction  in  the  engine-room,  by  the  force  of  the  ex- 
plosion.* The  safety-valve  was  attached  to  the  main  steam-pipe  in  the 
engine-room,  near  its  junction  from  the  two  boilers,  and  was  found  in  good 
order.  A  mercurial  gauge,  which  was  affixed  at  the  same  place  had  not 
discharged  its  mercury,  and  two  similar  gauges  were  attached  near  the 
boilers,  in  one  of  which  the  mercury  was  also  found.  These  gauges  had 
been  so  charged  as  to  sustain  a  maximum  pressure  of  about  32  pounds  to 
the  square  inch  !  The  pressure  at  the  time  of  the  explosion  was,  therefore, 
beloio  this  point. 

The  copper  of  these  boilers  was  rolled  to  the  thickness  of  Nos.  3  and 
4  of  the  wire  gauge,  or  one-fourth  of  an  inch  nearly.  No  marks  of  heat, 
or  of  the  absence  of  water,  could  be  discovered  on  the  flues  or  on  the  flat 
work  connected  with  their  upper  extremities,  where  a  deficiency  in  the 
supply  of  water  would  first  have  exposed  the  metal,  and  where,  in  such 
case,  injury  or  fracture  could  not  fail  to  have  resulted,  with  even  a  lower 
pressure  of  steam  than  was  known  to  be  on  the  boilers  at  the  time  of  the 
explosion.  In  short,  every  appearance  on  those  parts  of  the  boilers  which 
were  exposed  to  heat,  appeared  to  indicate  that  a  full  supply  of  water  had 
been  maintained.  The  weakest  portions  of  the  lower  arches  appeared 
inadequate  to  sustain  a  pressure  of  thirty  pounds  to  the  square  inch.  It 
came  out  in  the  testimony  that  the  maximum  working  pressure  in  these 
boilers  had  commonly  been  from  fourteen  to  seventeen  pounds ;  that,  im- 
mediately previous  to  the  explosion,  it  had  accumulated,  from  stoppages 
of  the  boat,  to  over  twenty -eight pounds !  And  furthermore,  that  the  engi- 
neers and  firemen  had  been  led  .to  believe,  by  the  manufacturers,  that 
these  boilers  would  sustain  a  pressure  of  even  fifty  pounds  to  the  inch ! — 


*  This  fact  deserves  special  notice;  chiefly,  because  the  explosion  of  the  two  boilers  of  the 
New  England  at  nearly  the  same  moment  has  been  gravely  brought  forward  as  proving  the 
disaster  to  have  resulted  from  want  of  water!  But  the  boilers  were  alike  in  their  struc- 
ture, and  both  subjected,  by  the  connexion  of  their  steam-pipes,  to  an  equality  of  pressure; 
and,  being  charged  to  the  limit  of  their  strength,  it  is  not  seen  why  both  should  not  give  way, 
especially  und^r  so  powerful  a  shock,  in  addition  to  the  pressure,  as  was  necessary  to  separate 
the  steam-pipes ;  which  blow  must  alone  have  been  equal  to  the  weight  of  many  tons.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  boilers  were  supplied  from  separate  pumps  and  pipes,  and  were  a  deficiency  of 
water  found  in  one  boiler,  it  could  have  no  connexion  with  the  state  of  water  in  the  other.  It 
is  on  such  shallow  grounds  that  hypotheses  and  opinions  are  defended  which  appear  to  have  a 
direct  tendency  t'l  perpetuate  these  disasters.  It  was  under  the  delusive  notion  of  security  in  a 
full  supply  of  water  that  these  boilers  were  exploded. 


4*2  Doc.  No.  158. 


an  opinion  which  there  is  no  doubt  was  honestly  entertained  by  the 
latter. 

The  testimony  obtained  in  this  case  was  full  and  satisfactory.  The 
engineers  were  both  saved,  and  gave  a  detailed  account  of  their  proceed- 
ings previous  to  the  disaster.  The  principal  engineer  had  himself  ex- 
amined the  state  of  the  water  in  the  boilers,  a  few  minutes  previous  to 
the  explosion,  and  there  appeared  to  have  been  great  care  used  on  this 
point,  as  constituting  the  only  source  of  danger.  He  states  that  the  boat 
was  stopped  about  two  minutes  at  Essex,  before  the  disaster,  and  he  ad- 
mits that  he  had  more  steam  on  the  boilers  than  it  was  proper  to  use  in 
the  river,  owing  to  the  delays  which  had  attended,  the  progress  of  the 
boat.  The  engineers  having  full  confidence  in  the  supposed  strength  of 
the  boilers,  and  knowing  that  the  supply  of  water  was  complete,  do  not 
appear  to  have  attended  closely  to  the  indications  of  pressure,  which 
was,  however,  most  accurately  observed  by  the  two  firemen  who  were 
then  on  duty. 

The  pilot,  who  appeared  a  very  cautious  man,  testified,  that,  after  en- 
tering the  river,  he  was  obliged  frequently  to  order  the  steam  shut  off 
from  the  engine,  because  he  found  it  difficult  to  steer,  while  under  full 
way.  The  steam  was  not  blown  off  at  Essex,  except  as  it  found  its  way 
through  the  safety-valve ;  which  was  loaded  nominally  to  twenty-four 
pounds  to  the  inch ! — although  here  was  also  a  liability  to  error. 

The  most  satisfactory  witnesses  were  the  two  firemen,  who  were  both 
saved,  after  having  been  blown  into  the  river.  They  had  seen  but  little 
service,  but  their  honesty  and  integrity  appeared  altogether  unquestion- 
able. From  the  clear  and  full  details  of  their  testimony,  it  appeared  that 
the  pressure  on  the  boilers  at  this  time  must  have  exceeded  twenty-eight 
inches  (pounds)  by  the  mercurial  gauges !  During  the  short  stop  at 
Essex,  they  had  both  tried  the  water  in  the  several  boilers,  and  found  it 
at  the  highest  try-cock,  of  which  there  were  four  in  each  boiler.  One 
fireman  then  crossed  to  the  other  boiler,  and  after  renewing  the  trial  of 
water  there,  also,  they  entered  into  conversation  on  these  circumstances, 
and  on  the  little  need  which  there  appeared  for  any  further  firing  to  main- 
tain a  supply  of  steam.  They  had  never  seen  the  float-rods  in  the  mer- 
curial gauges  so  high  as  at  this  time.  It  was  proven  by  measurement, 
that  at  a  rise  of  thirty  inches  (thirty  pounds  pressure),  these  rods  would 
strike  the  upper  deck  ;  and  they  testified  that  the  rods  were  within  three 
or  four  inches  of  the  deck  when  the  steamboat  arrived  at  Essex.  Other 
witnesses  confirmed  these  statements,  and  that  the  pressure  had  not  been 
so  great  on  any  previous  occasion. 

The  larboard  boiler,  which  had  shown  the  greatest  symptoms  of  strain- 
ing, and  received  most  of  the  previous  repairs,  exploded  a  little  before *the 
other,  but  the  second  instantly  followed  it ;  owing,  probably,  to  the  tre- 
mendous shock  communicated  through  the  steam-pipes,  and  by  which 
they  were  broken  asunder;  while  the  boilers,  being  alike  in  their  struc- 
ture, were  both  charged  to  the  limit  of  their  strength. 

In  summing  the  results  of  their  examination,  the  board  reviewed  the 
principal  conjectures  or  hypotheses  which  had  been  urged  by  manufactu- 
rers and  others,  in  order  to  account  for  this  disaster,  and  pointed  out  their 
inapplicability  to  the  case  before  them.  They  then  came  unanimously 
to  the  conclusion,  that  the  explosion  was  caused  by  an  excess  of  steam, 
produced  in  the  ordinary  manner. 


Doc.  No.  158. 


43 


In  this  age,  distinguished  for  experimental  knowledge  and  exact  sci- 
ence, it  might  have  been  expected  that  the  facts  of  the  above  case  would 
have  been  patiently  sought,  and  considered  with  attention,  especially  by 
professed  teachers  in  physical  science,  and  by  those  who  are  directly  in- 
terested or  employed  in  steam  navigation.  But  notwithstanding  our 
boasted  attachment  to  the  inductive  philosophy,  we  find  too  often,  that 
opinions  and  hypotheses  on  questions  of  pure  physics,  are  cherished  and 
defended  with  a  pertinacity  which  is  proportioned  to  their  incertitude 
and  lack  of  evidence  ;  for  in  these  cases  the  imagination  has  fuller  scope 
for  the  defence  of  its  own  creations.  In  view  of  the  facts  which  have 
passed  under  our  notice,  it  is  matter  for  regret  that  engineers  of  long  prac- 
tice, as  well  as  some  men  of  authority  in  science,  should  have  lent  their 
aid,  without  due  inquiry,  in  support  of  prevalent  errors. 

Remedies  for  explosions,  in  order  to  be  effectual,  must  be  derived  from 
a  correct  knowledge  of  the  facts  which  serve  to  indicate  their  proximate 
causes.  It  appears  remarkable,  therefore,  that  this  inquiry,  instituted  by 
the  owners  of  the  New  England,  should  be  almost  the  only  attempt  at 
careful  and  thorough  investigation,  for  the  benefit  of  the  profession  and 
of  the  public,  which  has  yet  been  made  in  cur  country. 

It  was  not  reasonable  to  expect  that  the  report  of  the  above  examina- 
tion, although  supported  by  the  clearest  evidence,  would  convince  those 
who  had  long  cherished  some  favorite  theory  concerning  explosions  :  but 
the  comparative  safety  which  has  since  attended  the  numerous  and  rap- 
idly increasing  steamboats  in  this  section  of  country,  may  induce  the 
inference  that  a  real  advance  has  been  made  in  exploring  the  cause  of  the 
evil  and  providing  its  proper  remedy.  As  within  the  last  few  years  ex- 
plosions are  almost  unknown  in  the  New  York  waters,  may  it  not  be 
inferred  also,  that  the  most  effectual  remedy  within  the  power  of  Congress, 
is  to  provide  for  a  thorough  and  free  investigation  of  all  such  accidents 
and. their  causes,  by  persons  competent  to  this  duty,  without  reference  to 
judicial  measures;  and  for  the  proper  publication  of  the  facts,  evidence, 
and  conclusions,  which  may  be  arrived  at  in  each  case.  This  could  not 
fail  to  afford  us  light  on  this  important  subject,  such  as  would  be  available 
both  to  professional  men  and  the  public  at  large.  We  should  then  no 
longer  grope  in  darkness,  and  our  future  experience  would  determine 
the  question,  whether  persons  who  happen  to  be  engaged  in  steam  navi- 
gation are  actually  possessed  by  a  species  of  monomania  or  indiscretion, 
which  induces  them  wantonly  to  sacrifice  their  own  lives  and  property, 
and  those  also  of  their  nearest  friends  and  fellow-citizens. 

If  we  ma}?-  rely  upon  the  indications  afforded  in  the  above  cases  by  the 
state  of  the  metal  in  the  exploded  boilers — the  most  conclusive,  perhaps, 
of  ali  evidence,  it  will  appear  that  the  most  common  cause  of  these  acci- 
dents, in  this  quarter,  at  least,  has  been  the  general  use  of  boilers  of  insuf- 
ficient strength,  which  have  been  worked  under  a  pressure  which  has 
proved  beyond  the  power  of  the  boiler  permanently  to  sustain.  The  te- 
nacity of  the  boiler-metal  is  in  great  measure  unavailing  in  resisting  the 
external  pressure  to  which  the  interior  portions  of  the  boiler  are  subjected; 
and  reliance  must  here  be  had  chiefly  upon  its  rigidity,  which  is  increas- 
ed in  a  high  ratio  to  the  reduction  of  the  diameters.  The  iron  boilers 
which  have  been  constructed  on  the  general  plan  of  those  of  the  New 
England,  at  later  periods,  are  more  strongly  braced,  and,  in  addition  to  the 
advantages  of  a  more  rigid  metal,  have  four  arches  instead  of  two,  which 


44 


Doc.  No.  158. 


greatly  increases  their  security  ;  although  a  further  advance  in  the  strength 
of  these  structures  is  still  desirable,  especially  in  the  part  called  the  steam- 
chimney. 

There  is  some  reason  to  believe  that  the  prejudice  in  favor  of  copper,  as 
a  material  for  boilers,  was  not  eradicated  from  our  southern  cities  by  the 
experience  had  on  the  New  York  waters ;  and  that  the  ill-fated  Pulaski, 
which  was  lost  in  1838,  by  the  explosion  of  her  boiler  at  sea,  was  project- 
ed under  this  disastrous  influence.  That  it  was  the  design  of  her  owners 
to  attain  the  greatest  degree  of  security,  cannot  well  be  doubted  ;  but  the 
accounts  which  I  have  received  of  the  methods  adopted  in  the  construc- 
tion and  the  security  of  her  boilers,  afford  grounds  to  infer  that  their  ac- 
tual strength  was  but  little  if  at  all  superior  to  those  of  the  New  England  ; 
and  I  am  also  informed,  that  they  had  on  some  occasions,  been  worked 
with  a  pressure  of  36  inches,  and  it  is  confidently  stated  that  the  gauge 
was  seen  at  28  inches  on  the  night  of  the  explosion ;  a  practice  which,  if 
truly  reported,  must  have  arisen  from  the  general  confidence  of  all  con- 
cerned in  the  adequate  strength  of  the  boilers.  But  the  deplorable  event 
has  proved  that  this  confidence  in  the  supposed  superiority  and  strength 
of  these  copper  boilers  had  no  just  foundation  ;  and  the  only  matter  for 
surprise,  in  view  of  such  a  state  of  facts,  is,  that  an  explosion  did  not 
sooner  occur.  Had  the  boilers  been  of  iron,  and  of  the  same  construc- 
tion, it  is  probable  that  a  regular  working  pressure  could  not  have  been 
obtained  of  sufficient  intensity  to  have  been  immediately  dangerous,  for 
nearly  double  the  amount  of  pressure  would  have  then  been  required  to 
produce  the  disruption. 

Shipvjrec/c  of  the  Home. 

This  subject  demands  our  present  notice  only  on  account  of  the  influ- 
ence it  may  be  supposed  to  have  had  upon  the  recent  legislation  of  Con- 
gress in  imposing  a  system  of  inspection  and  fees  upon  the  hulls  of  steam- 
boats. Those  who  are  fully  conversant  with  all  the  facts  of  the  case,  need 
not  to  be  told  of  the  absurdity  of  the  current  statements  regarding  the  loss 
of  this  ill-fated  vessel,  though  countenanced  by  the  exparte  inquiry  and 
report  of  a  popular  committee  composed  of  clergymen  and  others,  not  pro- 
fessionally conversant  with  the  matter  before  them,  and  gotten  up  under 
the  greatest  possible  extreme  of  misapprehension,  excitement,  and  error. 

It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  this  vessel  was  constructed  by 
some  of  our  most  able  shipwrights,  in  a  manner  not  visibly  inferior  to  our 
best  packet-ships,  so  far  as  may  be  inferred  from  casual  inspections  while 
building.  That  there  were  some  special  faults  in  this  vessel,  I  believe ; 
the  chief  of  which,  I  conceive  to  be  a  want  of  greater  depth  of  hold,  which 
her  length  seemed  to  require.  But  the  chief  cause  why  she  was  strained 
more  than  the  other  steamers  which  have  navigated  our  coast,  was  prob- 
ably owing  to  her  greater  weight ;  being,  if  I  mistake  not,  heavier  built 
than  most  of  her  competitors.  From  the  evidence  before  us,  I  feel  bound 
to  consider  the  catastrophe  of  the  Home  as  occasioned  by  her  being  volun- 
tarily run  on  shore  in  the  breakers,  chiefly  through  the  influence  of  the 
alarmed  passengers,  who  were  apprehensive  of  foundering.  Immediately 
previous  to  this  act,  the  vessel,  though  partially  water-logged,  was  under 
the  land,  and  the  gale  was  abating ;  and  had  she  then  been  brought  to 
anchor,  as  was  the  South  Carolina,  in  similar  circumstances,  on  the 


Doc.  No.  158. 


45 


same  night,  it  is  probable  that  she  would  not  have  sunk,  and  that  no  lives 
would  have  been  lost.  But,  however  this  might  have  been,  this  case  of 
shipwreck,  and  the  subsequent  catastrophe  of  the  Pulaski,  seemed  to  have 
had  an  extraordinary  influence  in  procuring  the  adoption  of  the  scheme  of 
legislative  remedies. 

It  may  be  justly  questioned,  however,  whether  the  existing  system  of 
naval  construction  as  practised  in  this  and  other  countries,  be  not  radi- 
cally defective.  In  all  the  heavy  shocks  and  strains  to  which  a  seaves- 
sel,  and  especially  a  sea-going  steamer,  is  necessarily  exposed,  the  ulti- 
mate strength  of  the  whole  structure  consists  only  in  the  lateral  resistance 
which  is  afforded  by  the  fastenings  and  their  bearing  surfaces.  Now  it  is 
both  obvious  and  demonstrable,  that  this  resistance  is  equal  to  only  a  very 
small  portion  of  the  strength  of  the  timber  and  materials  employed  in  con- 
struction, and  is  quite  unsuited  to  the  intensely  severe  strains  to  which 
these  floating  structures  are  sometimes  exposed. 

The  remedy  which  suggests  itself  consists  in  the  mutual  interlocking 
of  all  portions  of  t/ie  structure  which  lie  in  contact  with  each  other.  In 
adopting  this  method,  we  relieve  the  fastenings  from  the  great  lateral 
strains  by  which  they  are  injured  and  loosened  in  their  bearings  ;  and  the 
resistance  is  transferred  to  the  general  mass  of  woody  material  which  is 
employed  in  construction,  where  it  is  productive  of  no  injury,  the  fasten- 
ings being  thus  relieved  from  all  other  duty  than  holding  the  parts  in 
their  proper  places.  The  superiority  of  this  method  of  construction,  as 
compared  with  the  pegging  system,  ordinarily  practised,  and  in  which  re- 
liance is  only  had  upon  the  lateral  resistance  of  the  wooden  and  metallic 
fastenings,  is  too  obvious  to  require  elucidation.  A  freighting  vessel  of 
350  tons,  on  the  Hudson,  in  the  construction  of  which  I  have  put  this  in- 
terlocking system  in  practice,  is  believed  to  exceed  in  comparative  strength 
and  promise  of  durability,  any  other  vessel  now  afloat.  I  consider  this 
system  of  construction  to  be  of  essential  importance,  especially  in  a  steamer 
which  is  to  encounter  the  boisterous  waves  of  the  Atlantic. 

Theories  of  Explosion. 

The  theories  or  hypotheses  by  which  explosions  are  commonly  ac- 
counted for,  usually  without  proper  examination  and  on  the  most  vague 
and  uncertain  evidence,  are  chiefly  the  following  : 

1st.  Injury  to  the  boiler  from  heat,  owing  to  a  supposed  deficiency  of 
water. 

2d.  A  sudden  generation  of  steam  by  the  affusion  of  water  upon  portions 
of  a  boiler  thus  heated. 

3d.  The  supposed  generation  of  violently  explosive  gases  which  are  let 
off  in  the  boiler. 

4th.  Recklessness  on  the  part  of  those  in  charge. 

5th.  Ignorance  of  their  proper  duties  in  the  same  persons. 

6th.  Intoxication. 

To  which  should  probably  be  added,  as  more  influential  than  all  these, 
7th.  Insufficient  strength  in  the  boiler  for  the  duties  permanently  re- 
quired of  it:  owing  to  which  cause  the  defects  of  the  material,  insidious 
fractures,  or  deficiency  in  water,  have  become  destructive  ;  either  with 
Common  or  an  extra  degree  of  pressure. 


46 


Doc.  No.  158. 


It  is  probable  that  the  first  two  of  these  alleged  causes  have  contributed 
to  the  explosion  of  high  pressure  boilers;  and  the  deficiency  of  water  is 
always  to  be  considered  as  a  source  of  danger  and  of  certain  injury  to  the 
boiler.  Moreover,  the  greatest  care  on  this,  and  other  points  connected 
with  the  management  of  boilers,  cannot  be  too  strongly  inculcated  upon 
those  in  charge.  But  it  is  well  known  that  iron  boilers  have  in  many 
cases,  been  injured  by  a  deficiency  of  water,  under  the  very  circumstances 
which  are  alleged  as  producing  the  most  violent  explosions,  and  that  no 
other  ill  consequence  has  ensued  than  the  injury  to  the  metal.  In  the 
absence  of  all  direct  evidence,  therefore,  it  is  neither  wise  nor  prudent,  to 
throw  the  odium  or  responsibility  of  these  accidents,  which,  it  is  probable, 
have  mainly  resulted  from  the  general  faults  of  the  system,  upon  those 
persons  who  have  too  often  perished  while  performing  their  executive  du- 
ties according  to  their  best  knowledge  and  skill. 

-The  theory  which  supposes  the  rapid  generation  of  some  yet  undetect- 
ed and  highly  explosive  compound,  is  not  worthy  of  consideration,  hav- 
ing no  other  known  support  than  may  be  found  in  a  speculative  fancy. 

Ignorance  of  incumbent  duties  and  recklessness  of  conduct,  though 
sometimes  found  among  all  classes,  are  qualities  which  are  not  likely  to 
obtain  preference  from  the  owners  of  steamboats,  whose  fortunes  or  suc- 
cess in  business  are  mainly  dependant  upon  thecorrectand  intelligent  per- 
formance of  duty  on  the  part  of  their  agents  and  subordinates.  In  callings 
which  are  open  to  all  classes,  the  only  complete  remedy  for  ignorance 
must  be  found  in  a  more  general  and  thorough  system  of  popular  educa- 
tion. 

Persons  who  are  in  the  habit  of  resorting  to  drugs  or  stimulants  to  keep 
up  their  vital  energies,  or  for  the  gratification  of  a  morbid  appetite,  are  un- 
fitted, generally,  for  so  responsible  a  service  as  that  of  our  steam  vessels, 
and  should  never  be  employed,  except  in  cases  of  sheer  necessity.  But 
in  this  species  of  misconduct,  as  in  other  cases,  the  securities  afforded  in 
construction  should  be  such  as  to  prevent  the  consequences  of  this  vice 
from  becoming  fatal. 

The  notion  tbat  boilers,  under  the  pressure  of  steam  generated  in  the 
ordinary  way,  never  burst,  but  only  rend,  has  no  foundation  in  truth,  and 
has  been  sufficiently  refuted  on  various  occasions. 

Steamboat  Racing. 

This  subject  appears  to  have  attained  an  importance  in  public  estimation 
to  which  it  has  no  just  claims.  That  there  have  been  instances  of  mis- 
conduct attending  these  competitions,  I  have  myself  witnessed  ;  and  such 
instances  are,  doubtless,  somewhat  common.  But  that  they  are  usually 
instrumental  in  putting  in  jeopardy  the  lives  of  passengers,  is  chiefly  a 
bugbear  of  the  imagination,  winch  has  been  fostered  by  the  public  press 
till  it  passes  on  all  occasions  for  reality.  Tt  does  not  appear  to  be  generally 
understood,  that  the  boilers  of  steamboats,  if  properly  constructed,  and  par- 
ticularly of  those  boats  which  carry  large  engines  and  work  their  steam 
expansively,  are  utterly  incapable  of  generating  a  sufficient  supply  of  steam 
to  endanger  the  safety  of  the  boiler  while  the  engine  is  employed.  The 
whole  combination  of  parts  in  a  properly-constructed  steam  vessel  is  such 
as  to  allow,  if  not  require,  all  the  heat  which  can  be  applied  to  the  boiler, 
with  no  other  check  than  is  afforded  by  considerations  of  economy  ;  and 


Doc.  No.  158. 


47 


the  engine  is  competent  to  receive  and  work,  with  entire  impunity  to  the 
boiler,  all  the  steam  which  can  by  any  means  be  thus  generated.  The  en- 
tire structure  is  expressly  designed  for  the  attainment  of  the  greatest  pos- 
sible degree  of  speed ;  and  while  this  is  aimed  at,  under  the  general  re- 
striction before  mentioned,  the  parties  in  charge  are  only  laboring  in  their 
proper  vocation ;  provided  always,  that  their  conduct  in  other  respects  is 
judicious  and  proper,  and  that  the  vessel  be  navigating  in  smooth  water  of 
sufficient  depth. 

Of  the  various  disasters  of  our  steam  navigation,  I  can  recollect  but  a  sin- 
gle case  in  which  the  explosion  of  a  boiler  could  reasonable  be  referred  to 
racing  ;  and  even  in  this  case,  it  is  probable  that  the  disaster  only  occurred 
a  few  days  or  weeks  sooner  than  it  might  otherwise  have  done/-  I  would 
by  no  means  become  the  apologist  of  misconduct  in  this  or  any  other  mat- 
ter ;  but  it  is  time  that  the  indiscriminate  and  sickly  outcry  which  is  so 
often  raised  on  this  subject  should  cease  ;  for  it  is  obvious  that  it  can  an- 
swer no  other  purpose  than  to  increase  the  discomfort  and  terrors  of  weak 
and  uninformed  persons,  or  to  furnish  the  occasion  for  a  prescriptive  para- 
graph in  a  public  journal.  The  public  have  a  real  interest  in  the  personal 
comfort  and  rapidity  of  steam  navigation,  which  ought  not  to  be  trifled  with 
in  a  senseless  manner.  These  remarks  are  particularly  applicable  to  the  state 
of  steam  navigation  in  this  quarter  of  the  Union. 

Every  calling  and  pursuit  in  life  is  a  race.  The  politician,  the  jurist,  the 
artisan,  and  the  mariner,  all  justly  aim  to  accomplish  the  greatest  ends  in 
the  shortest  period.  Why  are  not  the  enterprising  commanders  of  our 
packet-ships  arraigned  before  the  bar  of  the  public  or  subjected  to  penal 
enactments  by  Congress,  for  the  unprecedented  zeal  and  success  with 
which,  in  late  years,  they  have  driven  their  ships  through  the  waves  of 
the  Atlantic,  in  the  face  of  dangers  and  of  storms?  Plainly,  because  these 
who  have  but  little  knowledge  of  seamanship  do  not  attempt  to  control  its 
operations. 

Comparative  hazard  of  steam  in  navigation. 

So  alarming  have  been  the  accidents  in  steam  navigation  on  our  west- 
em  rivers  and  elsewhere,  as  to  induce  a  belief  in  the  minds  of  some  that 
of  all  modes  of  conveyance  this  is  the  most  hazardous.  That  a  degree  of 
danger  has  attended  this  mode  of  travelling,  which  ought  to  be  lessened 
or  avoided,  it  were  vain  to  deny;  but  when  we  reflect  on  the  recent  ori- 
gin of  the  art,  and  the  vast  numbers  of  persons  who  are  transported  by 
its  means,  and  when  we  also  consider  the  exposure  and  comparative  acci- 
dents of  other  modes  of  navigation  and  means  of  conveyance,  this  im- 
pression will  be  materially  altered,  and  Ave  shall  rather  have  cause  to 
wonder  that,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  so  small  a  fraction 
of  the  travelling  public  have  become  victims  to  this  hazard.  We  have, 
indeed,  a  fearful  list  of  steamboat  explosions ;  but  the  sufferings  and  fa- 
talities which  have  attended  other  modes  of  transport  and  conveyance, 
pass  off  with  but  little  notice,  as  common  occurrences,  and  their  statistics 
are  seldom  known.  Consequently,  the  public  mind  does  not  become 
excited  in  contemplating  these  casualties,  which  are  treated  only  as  evils 
which  are  incident  to  the  common  lot  of  man. 


*  I  refer  to  a  case  on  the  river  Ohio. 


48 


Doc.  No.  158. 


By  the  report  of  a  select  committee  of  Parliament  in  1836,*  it  appeared 
that  the  number  of  English  vessels  lost,  in  a  period  of  three  years  (1816- 
?18),  as  collected  from  the  books  at  Lloyd's,  was  1,203;  and  in  a  subse- 
quent  period  of  like  duration  (L833-'35),  was  1 ,702.  That  the  number 
of  persons  distinctly  known  to  have  been  drowned  by  these  vessels  in 
the  firstnamed  period,  was  1,700,  and  in  the  second  period,  1,714. 

That  during  a  period  of  16  months,  ending  May  1,  1834,  the  loss  of 
property  by  vessels  reported  in  Lloyd's  books  as  missing  or  lost,  was  esti- 
mated at  760,000  pounds  sterling ;  and  the  loss  of  lives  in  the  same  ves- 
sels was  estimated  at  1,425.  These  returns  embrace  only  the  losses  entered 
at  Lloyd's,  and  by  no  means  embrace  the  whole  losses  of  British  shipping. 

It  appears,  also,  that  the  whole  loss  of  property  in  British  vessels  by 
shipwreck  or  foundering,  is  estimated  at  ^3,000,000  sterling,  annually ; 
and  the  annual  loss  of  life  at  sea  at  not  less  than  1,000  persons,  not  in- 
cluding the  numerous  losses  of  life  on  their  own  coast. 

As  regards  our  own  navigation,  which  is  inferior  only  to  that  of  Eng- 
land, we  rind  the  following  notice  : 

"  Shipwrecks  in  the  year  1837. — During  the  year  past,  there  has  been 
published  in  the  Sailor's  Magazine,  a  monthly  list  of  shipwrecks  which 
have  occurred,  principally  of  American  vessels,  and  which  have  been 
published  from  time  to  time  in  various  newspapers.  Those  only  have 
been  selected  which  resulted  in  a  total  loss  of  the  vessel.  The  number 
of  vessels  thus  reported  during  the  year  is  as  follows  :  ninety-four  ships 
and  barks,  one  hundred  and  thirty -five  brigs,  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  schooners,  twelve  sloops,  and  fifteen  steamboats  ;  making  a  total  of 
four  hundred  and  ninety-three  vessels  which  have  been  wrecked.  Of 
these,  forty-three  were  lost  toward  the  close  of  the  previous  year,  though 
the  account  was  not  published  till  the  commencement  of  this  ;  thirty-eight 
were  lost  in  the  month  of  January,  fifty-four  in  February,  twenty-four  in 
March,  thirty  in  April ,  nineteen  in  May,  fifteen  in  June,  forty-two  in  July, 
fifty  in  August,  thirty-two  in  September,  forty-three  in  October,  forty- 
three  in  November,  and  six  in  December.  The  precise  time  when  the 
remaining  vessels  were  lost  could  not  be  satisfactorily  ascertained. 

"  In  the  abovenamed  vessels,  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
five  lives  are  reported  as  being  lost.  This,  probably,  is  but  a  part  of  the 
whole ;  for,  in  many  instances,  the  crew  are  spoken  of  as  missing,  and  in 
other  cases  nothing  is  said,  where,  perhaps,  there  was  a  total  loss.', 
Sailor's  Magazine. 

This  statement  is  said  to  comprise  no  deaths  by  steamboats,  except  in 
cases  where  the  vessel  was  totally  lost.  On  the  other  hand,  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  fatal  accidents  in  ordinary  navigation  must  have  escaped 
the  knowledge  of  the  inquirer. 

Now,  in  view  of  this  immense  waste  of  life,  let  it  be  well  considered 
that  in  the  art  and  practice  of  navigation  other  than  by  steam,  the  world 
has  had  the  experience  of  more  than  four  thousand  years,  and  the  efforts 
and  intellect  of  many  generations  have  been  tasked  for  its  greater  securi- 
ty ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  scarcely  elapsed 
since  the  powers  of  steam  became  prominently  known  in  navigation,  and 
we  have  as  yet  only  witnessed  the  brief  infancy  of  its  application  to  this 


♦See  London  Nautical  Magazine. 


Doc.  No.  158 


49 


important  purpose.  Surely,  then,  it  is  not  surprising  that  disastrous  and 
fatal  accidents  should  sometimes  have  attended  its  use.  There  is  cause 
for  astonishment,  rather,  that  so  great  a  degree  of  average  security  should 
have  been  attained  in  so  brief  a  period. 

Each  great  district  of  our  widely-extended  country  possesses  its  own 
peculiar  facilities  and  hazards  in  this  species  of  navigation,  and  exhibits, 
also,  different  stages  of  improvement  and  security  in  the  use  of  steam. 
In  this  quarter,  the  average  degree  of  security  enjoyed  by  passengers  in 
our  steamboats  is  certainly  greater  than  is  possessed  by  persons  who  walk 
the  streets  of  our  large  cities.  During  the  last  five  years,  'millions  of  pas- 
sengers have  been  carried  on  the  steamboats  which  run  from  this  city, 
and,  among  all  these,  the  catalogue  of  deaths  by  steam  explosions  is  al- 
most inappreciable. 

It  is  probably  true  that,  in  hardly  any  other  circumstances  in  which 
such  numbers  have  been  placed,  has  the  occurrence  of  mortality  been  so 
entirely  wanting.  It  is  with  a  strong  sense  of  injustice,  therefore,  that 
those  who  are  engaged  in  this  important  and  not  always  profitable  avoca- 
tion, have  found  themselves  selected  as  the  objects  of  special  and  seem- 
ingly invidious  legislation. 

We  know  that  elsewhere  the  result  has  been  different ;  and  much  un- 
doubtedly remains  to  be  accomplished,  in  perfecting  this  important  art,  so 
as  to  render  it,  both  here  and  in  all  other  portions  of  our  country,  as  se- 
cure to  the  traveller  as  can  be  reasonably  desired.  But  this  is  plainly  a 
practical  desideratum,  which  can  only  be  attained  by  the  continued  exer- 
cise of  the  experience  and  professional  skill  of  those  who  may  be  engaged 
in  this  important  department  of  enterprise. 

Supposed  safety  of  English  steamvessels. 

Of  the  various  errors  and  opinions  which  have  been  cherished  in  our 
country,  through  prejudice  or  want  of  information,  there  is  none,  perhaps, 
which  threatens  to  be  more  immediately  injurious  to  our  commercial  in- 
terests, than  that  which  ascribes  to  English  steamvessels  an  almost  en- 
tire exemption  from  explosions  and  shipwreck.  This  error  would  have 
remained  unnoticed  by  me,  had  it  not  appeared  as  one  of  those  general 
impressions  which  have  probably  contributed  to  the  recent  legislation  on 
steamboats,  ti  does  not  appear  to  be  generally  known  that  the  principles 
of  construction,  the  arrangements  for  security,  and  the  general  combina- 
tion of  parts  in  the  English  engines  of  the  present  day,  do  not  differ,  in 
any  essential  degree,  from  those  which  were  usually  adopted  in  this  quar- 
ter, previous  to  the  year  1825;  and  that  accidents  of  a  serious  and  fatal 
character  have  not  unfrequently  attended  the  use  of  steam  in  Great  Britain, 
both  on  land  and  in  navigation. 

It  is  a  fact,  also,  which  may  not  be  generally  known,  that  there  has  been 
a  greater  loss  of  life  by  the  explosion  of  steamboat  boilers,  during  the 
present  year  (1838),  on  the  river  Thames  alone,  than  has  occurred  in  all 
the  numerous  and  crowded  steamboats  which  have  run  to  and  from  our 
principal  commercial  city  during  the  last  five  years  f*    And  not  withstand  - 


*I  allude  here  to  two  successive  explosions  on  board  the  steamer  Victoria,  which  are  men- 
tioned in  the  subjoined  lists,  and  by  which  more  than  a  dozen  persons  lost  their  lives 


so 


Doc.  No.  158. 


ing  the  contrary  impressions  made  on  the  public  mind  by  the  shipwreck 
of  the  Home,  and  the  recent  appearance  of  several  of  the  largest  and  best 
English  steamvesscls  in  our  waters,  it  is  also  true  that  fatal  accidents  and 
shipwrecks  have  not  unfrequently  attended  the  English  steamvessels. 
As  the  steam  accidents  in  England  have  excited  but  little  attention  in  our 
country,  I  now  add  such  accounts  and  notices  of  accidents  or  extraordi- 
nary hazards  to  English  boilers  and  steamvessels,  as  happen,  at  this  time, 
to  be  in  my  possession.  The  immediate  causes  which  are  assigned,  in 
order  to  account  for  these  accidents,  without  impugning  the  general  sys- 
tem of  construction  practised  in  England,  may  be  allowed  to  pass  for  what 
they  are  worth. 

Notices  of  accidents  and  extraordinary  hazards  to  English  boilers  and 

steamvessels. 

1.  Loss  of  the  Red  Rover. — In  October,  1S36,  a  correspondent  of  the 
Nautical  Magazine  notices  "  the  lamentable  accident  of  that  fine  steamer, 
the  Red  Rover,"  which  appears  to  have  sunk,  inconsequence  of  a  collis- 
ion with  the  steamer  Magnet,  near  the  Nore. — Nautical  Magazine,  De- 
cember, 1836. 

2.  Explosion  of  the  Union,  steamboat. — Hull,  June  7, 1S3T.  This  morn- 
ing, at  6  o'clock,  at  the  moment  when  the  Union,  steamboat,  from  hence, 
was  about  to  sail  for  Gainsborough,  owing  to  some  neglect,  the  boiler 
burst;  and  the  packet  being  loaded  on  deck  with  passengers  (about  120), 
the  mischief  done  and  loss  of  life  have  been  dreadful.  Several  bodies 
were  carried  over  the  pier  into  the  Humber;  a  fishing  smack  picked  up 
one  body,  and  saw  two  floating  down  at  a  short  distance,  apparently  bodies 
of  females.  One  person  was  carried  into  the  air  the  height  of  some  sixty 
feet,  and  came  down  on  the  roof  of  Mr.  Werterdale's  mast  manufactory, 
which  is  seventy  to  eighty  yards  from  the  place  where  the  packet  lay,  and 
is  a  building  forty  feet  high.  The  safety-valve  was  blown  against  the 
office  of  the  York  packet  (a  wooden  shed),  about  one  hundred  yards  from 
the  spot,  with  such  force  as  to  destroy  one  side  of  it. — Nautical  Magazine, 
July,  1837,  p.  474. 

It  was  in  evidence  in  this  case,  that  the  water  ran  freely  from  the  second 
gauge-tap,  immediately  previous  to  the  explosion  ;  that  the  proper  weight 
was  on  the  safety-valve,  which  was  lifted  a  moment  before,  and  found  in 
perfect  order ;  and  that  the  boiler  would  bear  ten  pounds  to  the  square 
inch,  but  was  adjusted  to  work  with  5|-  or  5^  pounds.  The  boiler  had 
been  in  use  less  than  six  months.  The  explosion  of  another  boat,  called 
the  Graham,  is  also  alluded  to  in  the  evidence. 

3.  Foundering  of  the  Apollo,  steamvessel. — About  4  o'clock,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  5th  September,  1837,  the  steamship  Monarch,  Bain,  for  Leith, 
and  the  steam  packet  Apollo,  Minter,  from  Yarmouth  for  London,  came  in 
contact  off  Grays  (Essex  )  ;  the  Apollo  went  down  in  ten  minutes  after- 
ward, and  the  stewardess  and  two  children  were  drowned. — Shipping 
Gazette. 

4.  Loss  of  the  Killarney,  steamer. — This  steamvessel  was  wrecked,  by 
stress  of  weather,  on  the  20th  of  January,  1838,  on  the  coast  of  Ireland, 
on  her  passage  from  Cork  to  Bristol;  and  of  37  persons  on  board,  24  per- 
ished.— See  Nautical  Magazine^  March,  1838,  pp.  211  and  212. 


Doc.  No.  158. 


51 


5.  Fire  on  board  the  Ocean,  steamship. — Yesterday  (Sunday)  afternoon, 
between  1  and  2  o'clock,  very  great  excitement  was  created  on  the  river, 
and  also  ashore,  among  the  shipowners,  by  a  fire  being  discovered  raging 
on  board  of  the  new  and  large  steamship,  the  Ocean,  Myddleton,  of  Lon- 
don, lying  off  the  custom-house  quay.    The  Ocean  had  just  arrived  from 
Calais  with  a  most  valuable  and  extensive  cargo,  consisting  of  merchan- 
dise and  goods  of  all  descriptions  ;  there  were  a  great  many  passengers 
on  board,  and  they  were  landed  at  London-bridge  wharf  before  the  vessel 
was  moored,  with  other  steamers  of  the  foreign  station,  off  the  custom- 
house.    The  flames  were  first  seen  raging  among  the  larboard  coal- 
bunkers,  close  to  the  furnaces,  and  by  that  period  they  must  have  been 
burning  a  considerable  time.    The  engineers  and  firemen  made  every  at- 
tempt to  extinguish  the  fire,  but,  ultimately,  by  the  overpowering  influ- 
ence of  the  smoke,  they  were  forced  upon  deck.    The  greatest  fears  were 
now  entertained  for  the  safety  of  the  vessel,  as  the  fire  had  extended  abaft 
the  boilers,  and  communicated  to  the  linings.    Volumes  of  smoke  were 
seen  to  issue  from  the  engine-room  and  round  the  funnel,  which  rapidly 
increased,  and  the  utmost  confusion  prevailed  among  those  on  board, 
and  the  vessels  lying  alongside.    When  an  entrance  into  the  engine-room 
could  not  be  obtained,  the  deck,  save  that  portion  on  fire,  was  torn  up  by 
pole-axes,  and  thereby  access  was  found  to  the  flames ;  the  force-pumps 
were  then  got  to  work,  and  in  about  an  hour  the  fire  was  completely  sub- 
dued, to  the  gratification  of  those  on  board,  and  before  so  much  damage 
was  done  as  was  at  first,  from  the  appearance  of  the  flames,  anticipated. 
There  is  no  doubt,  had  the  disaster  taken  place  at  midnight,  the  conse- 
quences would  have  presented  a  different  appearance  altogether.    It  is 
belie ved  that  it  must  have  been  from  the  excessive  heat  of  the  furnace, 
and  not  through  the  coals  in  the  bunkers.    The  engines  of  the  Ocean  are 
of  an  extraordinary  power,  and  the  vessel  is  the  property  of  the  General 
Steam  Navigation  Company. — English  paper,  September,  1838. 

6.  Disruption  of  the  boiler  of  the  William  Stanley,  steamer. — Liverpool, 
August  21,  1838.  Yesterday  morning,  about  11  o'clock,  great  conster- 
nation was  caused  at  George's  pierhead,  by  the  supposed  bursting  of  a 
boiler  of  the  William  Stanley,  Eastham  steamer,  while  lying  alongside 
of  the  pier.  But  the  truth  appears  to  be,  that  the  lower  plate  of  the  boiler 
gave  way,  previous  to  their  firing  up  to  leave  the  pier ;  and  no  accident 
was  occasioned  except  the  scalding  of  the  legs  of  a  lad  who  was  employed 
on  board. — English  paper. 

7.  Hazard  of  the  Tweedside,  steamer. — North  Shields,  September  15, 
1838.  Intelligence  reached  here  to-day  of  a  very  narrow  escape  from  a 
melancholy  disaster  on  board  of  the  Tweedside,  steamer,  on  her  passage 
from  Leith  to  this  place.  She  left  Leith  early  yesterday  morning,  and 
proceeded  on  until  she  came  near  to  North  Berwick,  when  it  was  discov- 
ered the  steamer  was  on  fire.  Attempts  were  made  for  some  time  to  ex- 
tinguish the  flames,  but  without  effect.  The  alarm  of  the  passengers  was 
dreadful ;  when,  fortunately,  a  London  steamer  came  in  sight,  and  vari- 
ous flags  of  distress  were  hoisted.  The  passengers  were  taken  on  board 
the  latter  vessel,  and  conveyed  to  Leith,  where  they  were  placed  on  board 
of  the  Northern  Yacht,  and  arrived  here  to-day.  The  Tweedside  was 
towed  into  Berwick,  where  she  will  receive  the  needful  repairs.  The  pas- 
sengers arrived  here  concur  in  stating  that,  but  for  the  providential  ap- 


52 


Doc.  No.  15S. 


pearance  of  the  London  steamer,  all  on  board  would  have  perished. — 
Shipping  Gazette. 

8.  Fatal  steam-boiler  explosion. — Another  steam  explosion,  attended 
with  loss  of  life,  occurred  at  Halliwell,  near  Bolton,  in  this  county,  on 
Wednesday  se'nnight,  at  the  factory  of  Mr.  W.  G.  Taylor,  Hill-mill;  and 
we  regret  to  say  that  the  consequence  proved  fatal  to  a  young  man  named 
Thomas  Halliwell,  aged  nearly  nineteen,  an  engine-tender.  The  deceas- 
ed had  been  four  years  assistant  in  the  engine-house,  and  was  a  steady 
industrious  workman.  The  boiler  burst  with  a  loud  crash,  destroying 
the  engine-house  in  a  moment,  and  burying  the  deceased  amid  the  ruins. 
All  hands  were  soon  on  the  spot,  and,  after  removing  the  bricks  and  the 
stones,  the  body  of  the  unfortunate  man  was  found  quite  lifeless  ;  he  was 
dreadfully  scalded  and  disfigured,  and  presented  a  miserable  aspect.  Mr. 
Taylor's  mill  being  furnished  with  an  excellent  waterwheel,  steampower, 
we  understand,  is  only  used  there  occasionally.  The  boiler  was  in  admira- 
ble condition,  and  the  accident  can  be  attributed  to  no  other  cause  but  an 
excess  of  steam,  or  a  deficiency  of  water;  An  inquest  was  held  the  fol- 
lowing day  at  the  Lamb  inn,  Sharpies,  before  W.  S.  Rutter,  Esq., coroner. 
The  jury  was  of  opinion  that  the  accident  had  been  occasioned  by  over- 
firing,  in  consequence  of  the  steam  being  low.  The  death  of  the  deceas- 
ed was  quite  accidental,  and  no  blame  could  be  attached  to  any  party. — 
English  paper,  September,  1838. 

9.  Dreadful  steam-boiler  explosion. — Xewton-in-the-Willows,  Monday 
night,  September,  1838.  The  viaduct  foundry  on  the  Manchester  and 
Liverpool  line  of  railway  at  this  place,  the  property  of  Messrs.  Jones,  Tur- 
ner, &  Evans,  was  this  morning,  the  scene  of  a  dreadful  and  fatal  steam- 
boiler  explosion.  Six  persons  are  already  dead,  and  four  others  are  lying 
without  the  least  hope  of  recovery.  It  appears  that  Messrs.  Jones  &  Co. 
employ  about  200  men,  and  in  the  course  of  their  business  use  two 
steam-engines,  one  of  16-horso  power  and  the  other  of  8,  to  drive  the  blast 
for  the  smiths'  furnaces.  Last  week  a  new  boiler  was  put  to  the  8-horse 
engine,  and  the  foreman  of  the  yard,  Joseph  Dangerfield,  who  superin- 
tended the  erection  of  the  boiler,  resolved  upon  setting  it  in  motion  him- 
self. It  was  tried  on  Saturday,  and  was  then  found  to  work  well.  This 
morning  he  was  called  by  the  watchman  at  5  o'clock,  and  he  immedi- 
ately proceeded  to  light  the  fire  and  get  the  steam  up  in  the  boiler.  He 
accomplished  this  task  by  6  o'clock ;  at  that  hour  the  men  came  to 
work,  and  about  ten  or  a  dozen  of  them  stood  at  the  mouth  of  the  furnace, 
anxiously  waiting  to  witness  the  evolutions  of  the  engines,  which  had 
been  stopped  for  the  purpose  of  attaching  the  straps  communicating  with 
the  machinery  of  the  foundry.  This  had  been  in  part  accomplished, 
when,  all  of  a  sudden,  the  steam  and  water  burst  through  the  flue  of  the 
boiler,  and  carried  the  contents  of  the  furnace  and  part  of  the  brickwork 
full  40  yards  from  the  building.  The  explosion  was  terrific.  The  by- 
standers and  Dangerfield  were  carried  as  if  by  a  gun-shot  into  a  field  of 
corn  on  the  outside  of  the  foundiy  palings.  The  palings  were  knocked 
down,  the  corn  levelled  to  the  ground  for  full  20  yards'  distance.  Three 
of  the  men  were  picked  up  quite  dead ;  their  names  are  Joseph  Danger- 
field,  Samuel  Appleton,  and  George  Fazakerley.  John  Dean  was  found 
on  his  knees  praying  to  the  Lord  to  have  mercy  on  his  soul;  he  lived 
until  10  o'clock.  Thomas  Price  was  picked  up  insensible  ;  John  Parker 
was  dreadfully  mutilated  ;  William  Wells,  George  Hough,  William  Dane, 


Doc.  No.  158. 


53 


and  - — —  Wilson,  were  also  taken  up  dreadfully  scalded  and  bruised. 
They  were  quickly  attended  by  some  surgeons  and  a  physician  from  New- 
ton and  St.  Helans.  George  Hough  and  William  Wells  lived  for  a  few 
hours  only.    Most  of  the  sufferers  are  married  men  with  large  families. 

A  seventh  sufferer  died  just  as  our  informant  was  closing  his  report. 
His  name  is  Price,  the  father  of  a  large  family. 

No  cause  is  assigned  for  the  accident.  The  exterior  of  the  boiler  still 
remains  perfect. — English  paper. 

10.  Extreme  hazard  of  the  Royal  Tar,  steamer. — We  reported  in  the 
Shipping  and  Mercantile  Gazette  of  Saturday,  that  the  Royal  Tar,  steamer, 
had  put  back  to  Falmouth ;  the  following  particulars  we  take  from  the 
Courier :  It  appears  that  the  Royal  Tar  underwent  some  trifling  repairs 
last  voyage  at  Limehouse,  and  left  the  river  on  Friday  the  12th  instant, 
for  Lisbon  and  Gibraltar.  On  reaching  the  Bay  of  Biscay  she  met  a  heavy 
sea  and  stifnsh  breeze,  which  strained  her  to  that  degree  that  she  was  half 
full  of  water  before  the  captain  and  crew  were  aware  of  it.  If  there  had 
not  been  six  pumps  to  go  to  work,  she  must  have  gone  down.  There 
were  6-5  passengers  on  board  ;  and  when  it  was  reported  that  the  ship  was 
sinking,  the  scene  of  dismay  and  uproar  that  ensued  baffles  description. 
A  passenger  writes  as  follows :  "  The  company  has  got  an  exceedingly 
clever  officer  in  Mr.  Lewis,  the  commander  of  the  Royal  Tar;  and  to  his 
presence  of  mind,  in  the  first  instance,  and  his  determined  conduct  after- 
ward, do  we  owe  our  lives,  and  the  company  the  safety  of  their  vessel.'' 
The  passengers  have  landed  at  Falmouth,  there  to  await  the  arrival  of 
another  steamer.* 

11.  Great  hazard  of  the  Victoria,  steamer. — Liverpool,  October  20, 1838. 
On  Friday  last,  after  beating  out  through  Crosby  channel,  the  crew  of  the 
pilot-boat  No.  9  saw  a  steamvessel,  with  a  signal  of  distress  up,  the  ensign 
union  down,  and  a  whiff  up  forward  at  the  fore-topmast  head,  appearing 
in  great  distress,  and  in  want  of  the  assistance  of  the  pilot-boat.  At  this 
time  (12^'o'clock)  the  vessel  was  a  long  way  to  leeward  of  the  pilot- 
boat.  Th e  latter  made  all  possible  sail  towards  her,  perceiving  that  she 
was  drifting  down  on  West  Hoyle  bank.  At  2  o'clock  they  got  to  her, 
when  she  proved  to  be  the  Victoria,  from  Liverpool  for  Sirangford ;  the 
captain  hailed  the  master  of  the  pilot-boat,  saying  that  he  had  lost  his 
rudder,  that  his  pumps  were  choked,  that  all  his  passengers  and  crew 
were  bailing  with  buckets  to  keep  the  vessel  free,  and  that  the  water  was 
gaining  so  fast  as  to  put  the  engine-fires  out.  The  master  of  the  pilot- 
boat  promptly  rendered  assistance,  by  getting  two  ropes  from  his  stern, 
and  endeavoring  to  steer  him  i  nto  safety.  With  difficulty  the  pilot-boat 
got  hawsers  from  each  quarter  ;  but  the  sea  running  very  heavy,  with 
squalls,  it  parted  both  hawsers.  The  master  advised  the  captain  of  the 
steamer,  under  this  difficulty  a  s  she  had  no  way  through  the  water,  and 
was  quite  unmanageable,  and  through  the  indefatigable  exertions  of  him- 
self and  crew,  an  endeavor  wa: ;  made  to  replace  the  hawser,  when  a  heavy 
sea  struck  the  steamer,  and  ho«ve  her  on  board  of  the  pilot-boat,  which 
sustained  considerable  damage.  From  thirty  to  forty  passengers  jumped 
•  on  board  the  pilot  boat  at  the  s  arne  moment,  which  placed  the  master  and 


*  This  disaster,  resulting  from  the  st  raining  ©f  the  vessel,  resembles  that  of  the  Home,  pre- 
vious to  h±r  being  rim  on  shore,  except  thatihe  severity  of  the  weather  appears  to  have  been 
far  greater  in  the  case  of  the  Home. 


51 


Doc  No.  158. 


crew  in  an  awkward  situation.  The  master  advised  the  captain  to  allow 
No.  10  pilot-boat,  which  was  in  company,  to  have  a  hawser  out  from  for- 
ward to  tow  ahead,  as  the  night  was  coming  on  very  fast.  With  great 
difficulty  this  was  accomplished.  The  pilot-boat  liad  not  towed  more 
than  half  an  hour  when  a  very  heavy  squall  came  on,  aild  parted  the 
best  and  newest  hawser  which  the  stcamvessel  had  on  b»;ard,  and  the 
same  squall  parted  also  one  of  the  hawsers  which  No.  9  had  Out  astern 
steering  her ;  so  that  there  was  only  one  hawser  left  to  steer  her  by,  the* 
only  one  on  board  the  steamer.  Fortunately,  it  held  until  they  got  into 
smooth  water ;  and  at  7,  P.  M.,  they  came  to  anchor  in  safety  near  the  north- 
east buoy.  At  the  request  of  Captain  Aberdeen,  the  pilot-boat  No  9  came 
to  anchor  close  astern  of  the  vessel,  where  she  remained  until  Saturday 
morning,  when  the  steamer  was  towed  in  safety  to  the  entrance  of  Clar- 
ence dock.  Great  praise  is  due  to  the  masters  and  crews  of  the  pilot-boats 
for  their  exertions  on  this  occasion.  Had  it  not  been  for  their  interference, 
the  Victoria  would  have  been  inevitably  lost.  No.  9  pilot-boat  sustained 
very  considerable  damage,  and  has  been  since  undergoing  repair. — Liver- 
pool Mail. 

12.  Upsetting  of  the  Shamrock,  steamer. — Waterford,  October  20, 1838. 
Thursday,  as  the  Shamrock,  steamer,  was  coming  down  the  Ross  river, 
the  pigs  on  board  went  all  to  one  side,  and  the  steamer  filled.  The  pas- 
sengers landed  safely,  and  the  disabled  vessel  was  towed  up  to  Waterford 
by  the  Duncannon. —  Waterford  Mirror. 

13.  Explosion  of  a  steam-boiler  upon  the  Tyne. — On  Sunday  morning, 
the  2d  instant,  the  Vivid  steamboat,  belonging  to  four  brothers  named 
Greener,  of  Shield,  was  engaged  to  tow  some  ships  out  to  sea,  and  had  got 
her  steam  up  for  that  purpose,  when  the  owners  (who  worked  the  boat) 
found  that  she  was  not  in  a  fit  state  to  do  so.  They  accordingly  brought 
her  up,  and,  while  two  of  the  brothers  were  employed  in  raking  out  the 
fires,  the  boiler  exploded  with  great  violence,  and  dreadfully  scalded  two 
men  who  were  below.  They  were  immediately  conveyed  home,  where 
they  lingered  for  a  few  hours  and  then  died.  The  deceased  were  men  of 
excellent  character,  and  much  respected.  One  was  a  single  man,  but  the 
other  has  left  a  wife  and  family  to  regret  his  loss.  This  accident  appears 
to  be  the  more  singular  as  the  boiler  had  been  undergoing  some  repairs, 
and  was  only  finished  on  Saturday.  An  inquest  will  be  held  by  S.  Reed, 
Esq.,  coroner,  this  day  (Tuesday),  at  3  o'clock.  Several  of  the  steam- 
boats running  between  Newcastle  and  Shields  are  now  in  the  habit  of  so 
much  overlading  their  boilers,  that,  unless  some  check  is  put  to  the  prac- 
tice, we  shall  not  be  surprised  at  some  dreadful  accident  occurring.  Some 
person,  who  is  competent  to  the  duty,  should  look  to  this  without  delay. 
We  are  glad  to  hear  that  the  Government  have  it  in  contemplation  to  ap- 
point an  officer  for  the  express  purpose  of  examining  steam  vessels,  and  of 
affording  protection  to  the  public. —  Tyne  Mercury  (1838). 

14.  Accident  to  the  boiler  of  the  Sirius.* — London,  October  3,  1838. 
The  Sirius,  steamer,  Ellis,  reported  yesterday  as  having  sailed  from  her 
moorings,  off  East-lane  stairs,  for  St.  Petersburg,  did  not  get  farther  than 
the  Pool  when  an  accident  happened  to  one  of  her  boilers.  The  damage 
can  be  repaired  in  two  or  three  days,  when  she  will  proceed  on  her  voyage. 

15.  Steamer  Northern  Yacht  foundered. — It  has  been  ascertained  that 


*  This  steamer  had  recently  risiied  New  York. 


Doc.  No.  158. 


55 


the  steamboat  Northern  Yacht  is  lost.  She  was  seen  to  sink,  and  all  on 
board  perished  ;  twenty-three  in  number. — English  paper  {October ',  1838). 

16.  Steam-boiler  explosion. — Yesterday  morning,  just  before  6  o'clock, 
the  boiler  of  the  steam-engine  which  moves  the  machinery  in  the  wad- 
ding manufactory  of  Messrs.  Richards  &  Taylor,  of  James -street,  a  short 
distance  south  of  Kennington  common,  blew  up  with  a  loud  noise,  throw- 
ing the  whole  length  of  the  engine-house  into  the  street,  and  with  such 
force  as  to  knock  down  several  yards  of  a  wall  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
way,  a  distance  of  fifty  feet.  Had  the  explosion  occurred  but  five  min- 
utes later,  when  a  number  of  persons  would  have  collected  in  the  street 
prior  to  their  going  in  to  their  work,  the  consequences  might  have  been 
fatal  to  many.  The  engine  is  of  thirty-horse  power,  but  the  boiler  is  only 
capable  of  working  to  twenty-horse  power.  No  cause  can  be  assigned  for 
the  accident.  Fortunately,  no  one  was  injured. — English  paper  {August 
or  September,  1838). 

17.  Sinking  of  the  Hope,  steamer. — A  towing  steamer,  named  the  Hope, 
of  Shields,  on  entering  the  harbor,  ran  foul  of  a  dredging-vessel  which  is 
used  for  cleaning  the  harbor.  The  steamer  became  very  leaky,  and  sunk 
near  the  head  of  the  pier.  She  has  since  become  a  total  wreck.  Crew 
and  part  of  the  materials  saved. — Sunderland  {Eng.),  October  13,  1838. 

18.  Disastrous  and  fatal  accident. — On  the  morning  of  Saturday  se'n- 
night,  the  neighborhood  of  Upper  Easton,  near  Bristol,  was  thrown  into 
great  alarm  by  the  sudden  explosion  of  a  large  steam-engine  boiler  on  the 
premises  of  Messrs.  Bayly  &  Co.,  lead-smelters.  The  effect  was  most 
terrific,  and  showed  the  immense  "power  of  steam.  The  boiler,  which  was 
nearly  twelve  feet  high,  and  thirty-five  feet  in  circumference,  and  which 
weighed  between  three  and  four  tons,  was  literally  carried  through  the 
roof  of  the  building,  over  an  adjoining  workshop,  into  a  field  eighty  yards- 
distant,  tearing  down  a  stack  of  chimneys.  The  shower  of  rafters,  bricks, 
tiles,  and  stones,  which  accompanied  the  explosion,  was  truly  awful.  The 
roads  and  fields  close  to  the  works  were  covered  with  the  fallen  fragments  ; 
and  a  broad-wheeled  wagon,  loaded  with  small  coal  (the  whole  weighing 
four  tons),  was  thrown  several  yards  and  upset;  the  near  hind  wheel  be- 
ing struck  off  the  axletree.  We  are  sorry  to  say  that  six  persons,  inclu- 
ding the  engineer  (who  was  supposed  to  have  been  feeding  the  fire  at  the 
time),  were  dreadfully  scalded,  and  taken  to  the  infirmary.  Three  of  the 
sufferers  have  since  died.  From  the  inquest,  held  before  J.  Langley,  Esq.  , 
coroner,  it  was  found  that  the  engineer,  who  has  unfortunately  perished, 
was  the  cause  of  the  accident.  He  ignorantly  overloaded  the  safety- 
valve,  from  some  misconceived  notion  of  trying  the  strength  of  the  boiler 
after  it  had  been  newly  repaired. — January,  1836. 

19.  Burning  of  the  Royal  Tar. — The  British  steamvessel  Royal  Tar, 
from  St.  John's  (New  Brunswick),  bound  to  Portland,  with  one  hundred 
passengers,  in  October,  1836,  took  fire,  owing  to  some  defect  about  the 
boilers,  and  was  destroyed.  Thirty  persons  lost  their  lives  by  this  dis- 
aster. 

20.  Disastrous  shipuTeck  of  the  Rothsay  Castle,  steamer. — The  steamer 
Rothsay  Castle,  from  Liverpool  for  Beaumaris,  was  lost,  in  the  month  of 
August,  1831,  and  a  great  number  of  persons  perished. 

A  volume  of  322  pages,  relating  to  this  disaster,  is  now  before  me.* 


*  Narrative  of  the  Wreck  of  the  Rothsay  Ca?tle,  steampacket.  By  Joseph  Adshead.  Lon- 
don :  Hamilton,  Adams,  &  Co.,  1834. 


56 


Doc.  No.  158. 


To  a  list  of  the  persons  on  board,  which  it  contains,  the  author  appends 
the  following  statement :  "  This  list  presents  the  number  of  141  indi- 
viduals who  are  known  to  have  been  on  board  the  Roth  say  Castle  at  the 
period  of  her  wreck  ;  and  if  the  moderate  calculation  be  admitted  that 
nine  only  were  lost,  of  whom  nothing  has  been  heard,  it  will  realize  the 
estimate  1  have  hazarded  at  page  289,  namely:  that  150  persons  were  on 
board,  of  which  number  one  hundred  and  txveidij-scvcn  perished 7" 

21.  Dreadful  shipwreck  of  the  Forfarshire,  steamer,  from  Hull  to  Dun- 
dee.—  Thirty-Jive  lives  lost. — One  of  the  most  dreadfully  calamitous  ship- 
wrecks that  has  taken  place  on  the  coast  of  England — perhaps  involving 
the  greatest  loss  of  life  since  the  loss  of  the  Rothsay  Castle  off  the  Isle 
of  Anglesea — took  place  yesterday  week,  off  the  coast  of  Northumber- 
land, when  the  steamvessel  called  the  Forfarshire,  on  her  voyage  from 
Hull  to  Dundee,  struck  on  the  rocks  of  the  Farn  islands,  and  no  less 
than  thirty-five  of  the  passengers  and  crew  perished.  This  steamer, 
which  was  a  fine  large  vessel  of  400  tons  burden,  provided  with  two 
boilers,  appears  to  have  been  lost  owing  to  the  bad  state  of  her  boilers  : 
and  although  she  was  exposed  to  very  rough  weather,  yet,  as  will  be 
seen,  her  boilers  must  have  been  in  a  defective  state  when  she  quit  the 
Humber. 

The  Forfarshire  sailed  from  Hull  for  Dundee  on  Wednesday  after- 
noon, the  5th  instant,  at  20  minutes  past  6  o'clock,  along  with  the  Pega- 
sus and  Jimisfail,  for  Leith.  On  Thursday  morning,  about  4  o'clock, 
the  boiler  became  leaky,  but  it  was  partially  repaired ;  and  the  steamer 
proceeded  on  her  voyage,  till  she  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Frith  of 
Forth,  about  10  o'clock  in  the  pvening.  It  then  blew  a  heavy  gale  from 
the  northward.  The  boiler,  it  would  appear,  had  now  become  useless, 
and  the  machinery  stopped.  The  vessel  was  got  about,  in  the  hope  to 
get  her  before  the  wind,  but  she  soon  became  unmanageable.  It  rained 
heavily,  accompanied  by  a  violent  gale,  with  a  heavy  sea,  and  the  vessel 
drifted  toward  the  Farn  islands,  on  the  outer  one  of  which  she  struck 
about  3  o'clock  on  Friday  morning.  The  captain  (John  Humble,  late 
master  of  the  Neptune,  of  Newcastle)  did  not,  from  the  state  of  the 
weather,  know  where  he  was,  nor  was  danger  apprehended  until  breakers 
were  discovered  close  under  the  lee  of  the  vessel.  As  soon  as  the  break- 
ers were  discovered,  the  steward  went  into  the  cabin  to  warn  the  passen- 
gers (who  were  in  bed)  of  the  danger.  They  rushed  to  the  deck,  which 
the  most  of  them  must  have  reached  before  the  vessel  struck  ;  but  as  the 
steamer,  almost  instantly  after  striking,  parted  into  two  pieces,  the  whole 
of  the  cabin  passengers,  twenty-five  in  number  (with  one  exception, 
who,  with  eight  of  the  crew,  got  on  board  one  of  the  boats),  are  under- 
stood to  have  met  with  a  watery  grave.  Among  the  cabin  passengers 
were  several  ladies.  The  crew  consisted  of  twenty-two,  ten  of  whom, 
and  the  captain,  are  drowned.  Five  steerage  passengers  and  four  of  the 
crew  were  taken  oil  the  fore-part  of  the  wreck,  in  the  course  of  the  morn- 
ing, by  a  boat  belonging  to  the  light-house  on  the  island.  Thus  it  would 
appear  that  thirty-five  persons  have  lost  their  lives.  Only  one  cabin  pas- 
senger, Mr.  Ruthven  Ritchie,  Hill  of  Ruthven,  Perthshire,  was  saved. — 
Leeds  Mercury,  September  15,  1S3S. 

22.  Dreadfuf  boiler  explosion. — In  Woolhouse's  edition  of  Tredgold, 
there  is  mentioned  the  explosion  of  a  large  English  boiler  of  the  old  sphe- 
rical form,  twenty  feet  in  diameter,  in  which  the  thickness  of  the  plates 


Doc.  No.  158. 


57 


was  from  a  quarter  to  half  an  inch  ;  the  load  upon  the  safety-valve  seven, 
pounds  per  circular  inch.  Many  lives  were  lost  by  this  explosion  ;  and 
the  boiler  was  thrown  to  a  distance  of  150  feet,  to  a  place  thirty  feet  above 
the  level  of  its  former  seat. —  Tredgold^  p.  251. 

23.  Blowing  up  of  the  Earl  Grey,  steamer. — On  Friday  evening,  a 
few  minutes  before  6  o'clock,  a  dreadful  accident  took  place,  occasioned  by 
the  bursting  of  the  boiler  of  the  Earl  Grey,  steamer,  while  she  was  lying 
at  the  steamboat  quay,  on  her  way  from  Dunoon  to  Glasgow.  The  Earl 
Grey  had  been  moored  at  the  quay  about  fifteen  minutes,  and  was  just 
on  the  point  of  starting  (the  bell  having  been  rung),  when  an  explosion 
happened  of  so  dreadful  a  nature,  that  the  boiler  was  rent  completely 
round,  the  roof  forced  up  into  a  perpendicular  position,  the  upper  flues 
driven  into  the  cabin,  and  the  lower  part  of  the  boiler  and  under  flues 
removed  from  their  situation,  blowing  the  deck  completely  off,  from  the 
funnel  to  within  eight  or  nine  feet  of  the  stern.  The  unfortunate  per- 
sons who  were  standing  on  thai  part  of  the  deck  were  blown  into  the  air; 
two  of  these  fell  upon  the  quay,  both  of  whom  died  immediately  after ; 
the  rest  fell  into  the  sea.  The  water  from  the  boiler  was  thrown  nearly 
to  the  west  end  of  the  steamboat  quay,  over  the  shed,  on  board  two  ves- 
sels, the  Jean  and  the  Rebecca ;  the  rope  which  fastened  the  steamer's 
stern  to  the  quay  was  blown  on  the  top  of  the  shed,  also  camp-stools, 
large  pieces  of  wood,  &c.  A  part  of  the  boiler,  six  or  eight  feet  square, 
was  driven,  by  the  force  of  the  steam,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  feet  and 
upward.  A  great  number  of  persons  standing  on  the  quay  were  much 
injured  by  the  scalding  water,  and  by  pieces  of  coal,  wood',  &c,  falling 
on  them. 

By  this  melancholy  event  six  persons  have  lost  their  lives,  fourteen 
been  severely  injured,  and  twelve  slightly  (thirty-two,  in  all);  but  it  is 
impossible  at  present  to  state  the  precise  number  of  the  sufferers  by  this 
dreadful  occurrence,  as  it  is  believed  that  some  of  those  thrown  into  the 
water  have  not  been  found.  The  steward  says  that  before  the  accident 
he  counted  twenty-seven  persons  on  the  quarter-deck,  and  considers  that 
there  were  about  forty  persons  on  board  at  the  time  of  the  explosion. 

The  steward  of  the  Earl  Grey,  while  standing  on  the  paddle-box,  was 
knocked  overboard  by  a  large  piece  of  coal,  but  got  out  little  injured. 
Excepting  the  steward  and  one  seaman,  who  Avas  killed,  no  other  person 
connected  with  the  vessel  was  hurt.  A  young  lady,  Miss  Stevenson,  had 
gone  on  board  the  vessel,  accompanied  by  her  sister  and  a  young  gentle- 
man, a  few  minutes  before  the  accident  took  place.  The  young  man  had 
gone  forward  to  the  bow,  leavin?  the  two  young  ladies  standing  abaft 
the  funnel  at  the  moment  the  explosion  occurred.  When  the  steam  and 
smoke  had  cleared  away,  he  discerned  one  of  the  Misses  Stevensons  in 
the  water,  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  vessel ;  and,  although  an 
indifferent  swimmer,  he  plunged  overboard  and  saved  her.  The  body  of 
the  other  sister  was  got  out  of  the  water  an  hour  and  a  half  after  the  acci- 
dent, by  the  boats  which  were  employed  in  trauling,  but  no  other  body 
has  yet  been  found. 

Mr.  Matthew  King,  of  Port  Glasgow,  who  was,  with  Mrs.  King,  blown 
overboard,  saved  himself  by  clinging  to  a  block  attached  to  a  rope  which 
hung  over  the  vessel's  side.  While  in  this  situation,  he  saw  Mrs.  King 
floating.  He  immediately  got  hold  of  her ;  and,  while  supporting  himself 
with  one  hand,  and  holding  his  wife  with  the  other,  some  person  seized 


58 


Doc.  No.  158. 


hold  of  the  rope  Mr.  King  was  clinging  to,  and  nearly  pulled  it  from  his 
hand.  Mr.  King,  with  great  difficulty,  got  him  to  desist  until  a  hoat  came 
to  their  assistance,  and  rescued  them  just  in  time,  as  Mr.  King  had  be- 
come completely  exhausted. 

Mr.  Hugh  Watson,  who  is  mentioned  among  those  killed,  was  on  the 
deck  at  the  time  of  the  explosion ;  the  force  of  "which  blew  him  and  An- 
gus Wilkie,  who  was  loosing  the  stern-line  at  the  moment,  a  great  height 
into  the  air.  They  both  fell  on  the  quay ;  and  the  bruises  they  received 
from  this,  together  with  the  effects  of  the  steam  and  scalding  water,  caused 
almost  instant  death  in  both  cases. 

Mr.  Peter  Somerville,  of  Glasgow,  one  of  the  passengers,  who  saved 
himself  by  his  singular  activity  and  presence  of  mind,  described  to  us,  in 
the  following  manner,  the  circumstances  connected  with  the  blowing  up 
of  the  vessel,  as  far  as  his  own  observations  had  extended  :  Mr.  Somer- 
ville was  surprised  at  perceiving  the  cabin  to  be  full  of  steam,  and,  be- 
coming apprehensive  that  something  was  wrong,  he  advanced  to  the  far- 
thest end,  when  a  hissing  noise  which  he  heard  convinced  him  that  an 
explosion  was  about  to  take  place,  and  he  sprung  suddenly  out  at  one  of 
the  cabin  windows,  breaking  the  glass,  a  pane  about  fourteen  inches  square. 
Instantaneously  as  this  was  done,  the  explosion  occurred  before  his  legs 
were  quite  out  of  the  Window ;  and  his  feet  were  scalded  by  the  hot  wa- 
ter or  steam  rushing  into  the  cabin.  Fortunately,  Mr.  Somerville  succeed- 
ed in  catching  hold  of  an  iron  rod  projecting  from  the  stern,  by  which  he 
hung  until  the  stern-boat  had  been  lowered,  when  he  was  drawn  up  to 
the  deck  of  the  vessel.  While  thus  hanging  by  the  steamer's  stern,  Mr. 
Somerville  looked  down  into  the  water,  in  which  he  thinks  he  observed 
about  thirty  persons,  many  of  whom  appeared  to  have  been  hurt  by  the 
explosion  and  were  streaming  with  blood.  He  saw  six  or  seven  couples 
clinging  to  each  other,  as  if  resolved  to  be  saved  or  lost  together.  On  be- 
ing hauled  up  the  stern,  Mr.  Somerville  found  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
deck  had  been  torn  up;  on  the  only  portion  of  which  now  remained, 
namely,  a  few  feet  of  the  stern,  he  observed  an  old  gentleman  evidently 
much  hurt,  and  a  lady,  of  apparently  about  forty  years  of  age,  who  was 
either  dead  or  had  swooned.  All  the  other  cabin  passengers  appeared  to 
have  been  blown  off  the  deck  by  the  violence  of  the  explosion. 

The  quay  at  which  the  vessel  was  lying  at  the  time  of  the  accident 
was,  in  an  incredibly  short  time,  crowded  by  persons  of  all  descriptions. 
The  excitement  was  much  increased  by  the  wounded  sufferers  being  borne 
along  the  streets  to  the  infirmary,  and  various  other  places.  The  steam- 
"boat  quay,  about  7  o'clock,  presented  a  scene  of  horror  happily  never 
hefore  witnessed  here  :  mangled  and  bleeding  bodies  carried  to  the  places 
where  aid  could  be  administered ;  the  boats  employed  in  trauling  for  the 
bodies  rowing  backward  and  forward,  anxiously  watched  by  the  spec- 
tators whenever  the  men  aboard  hauled  up  the  creepers,  to  which,  in  al- 
most every  case,  were  hanging  pieces  of  clothes,  shirts,  handkerchiefs,  &c. 
But  the  most  fearful  spectacle  of  all  was  the  vessel  herself — the  roof  of  the 
ponderous  boiler  poised  in  mid-air,  over  which  the  funnel  lay  crushed  and 
broken ;  the  uptorn  decks  exposing  the  cabin,  into  which  the  upper  flues 
of  the  boiler  had  forced  their  way ;  while  hats,  and  portions  of  male  and 
female  attire,  were  strewed  around,  telling  too  truly  of  the  fearful  destruc- 
tion that  had  taken  place.  It  may  be  consoling  to  the  friends  of  those 
who  were  injured  to  know  that  every  thing  which  humanity  and  skill 


Doc.  No.  158. 


59 


could  devise  was  done  to  alleviate  the  agonies  of  the  unhappy  sufferers. — 
Greenock  Intelligencer,  July,  1835. 

24.  Explosion  on  board  the  Victoria,  steamer. — On  the  14th  of  June 
(1838)  a  dreadful  accident  happened  in  the  river,  by  the  explosion  of  a 
boiler  on  board  the  Victoria,  Hull  steamship,  by  which  nine  unfortunate 
men  lost  their  lives. — Shipping  Gazette. 

This  explosion,  and  another  which  also  occurred  on  the  Thames  a  few 
months  previously  on  board  the  same  vessel,  by  which  several  lives  were 
lost,  have  already  been  alluded  to. 

There  are  other  cases  of  like  character  before  me,  of  earlier  date,  which 
I  omit  to  notice  ;  but  the  above  are  sufficient  to  show  that  these  accidents 
are  not  confined  to  American  steamboats,  but  often  occur  with  low-pres- 
sure engines  under  the  English  practice. 

The  various  hazards  and  casualties  here  enumerated  serve  not  only  to 
show  that  the  hazards  which  have  hitherto  attended  the  use  of  steam  are 
not  confined  to  our  own  country,  but  that  the  use  of  steam  of  only  five  or 
seven  pounds  pressure  to  the  inch,  with  a  dependance  on  nicely  adjusted 
safety-valves  and  other  apparatus,  will  not  ensure  safety  ;  and  that  the  lat- 
ter must  be  sought  in  the  surplus  strength  of  the  boilers  employed, 

Of  the  foregoing  cases  of  the  shipwreck  of  English  steamers,  it  may  be 
remarked,  that  a  large  portion  of  those  which  were  most  disastrous  could 
probably  have  been  avoided  had  their  engines  possessed  equal  efficiency 
with  those  which  are  used  in  the  New  York  steamboats. 

Steamboat  legislation. — The  subject  of  legislative  enactments  for  pro- 
moting the  security  of  passengers  in  steamboats,  has  often  been  a  matter 
of  discussion  since  the  latter  were  first  introduced  in  our  country.  But, 
till  recently,  there  has  appeared  an  evident  reluctance  to  legislate  on  sub- 
jects relating  to  the  arts  and  occupations  of  particular  professions ;  such 
interference  being  generally  considered  as  ungenial  to  the  character  of  our 
institutions,  and  contrary  to  sound  policy.  The  objections  to  legislative 
interference  were  peculiarly  strong  in  the  case  before  us,  owing  to  the  in- 
fancy and  importance  of  the  art  in  question ;  the  professional  knowledge 
and  experience  which  were  required  to  regulate  it  with  success ;  and  the 
difficulty,  not  to  say  impracticability,  of  devising  a  system  of  legislation 
which  should  be  adapted  to  all  the  diversified  circumstances  of  this  great 
country,  and  to  the  rapidly  improving  state  of  the  art  itself. 

There  is,  however,  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  who  are  directly  concerned  in  steam  navigation,  and  the  unhappy 
disasters  which  have  attended  it  have  presented  to  our  contemplation 
dangers  of  a  new  and  appalling  character,  and  have  occasioned  ceaseless 
efforts  for  the  accomplishment  of  such  legislation  as  should,  in  reality  or 
appearance,  offer  security  to  those  persons  who,  under  the  lively  impres- 
sion of  danger,  could  discover  little  else  than  incompetency,  treachery,  or 
suicidal  depravity,  in  those  who  conducted  the  operations  of  this  new  and 
powerful  element  of  locomotion.  A  few  in  the  profession  itself,  being  im- 
patient, perhaps,  of  the  opposition  offered  to  their  views,  or  of  the  con- 
tinued existence  of  evils  and  defects,  which  to  them  appeared  susceptible 
of  a  prescribed  remedy,  have  joined  in  recommending  the  interference  of 
the  National  Legislature.  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  this  interference 
is  to  be  productive  of  more  good  than  evil.  That  it  has  signally  failed  in 
preventing  the  recurrence  of  the  calamities  which  have  been  deprecated, 
is  too  apparent  in  the  recent  explosion  of  two  steamboats  on  the  Missis- 


60 


Doc.  No.  158. 


sippi,  which  were  fresh  from  under  the  legal  inspection,  and  which  have 
been  attended  with  a  fearful  destruction  of  life.*  It  is  much  to  be  appre- 
hended,  therefore,  that  these  enactments  can  serve  no  better  purpose  than 
to  relieve  the  owners  and  managers  of  steamboats,  in  a  measure,  from  that 
weighty  sense  of  responsibility  to  the  public  under  which  they  have  hith- 
erto labored,  irrespective  of  their  private  interest  in  the  safe  and  prosper- 
ous conducting  of  their  business. 

But  aside  from  the  more  than  questionable  policy  of  some  of  the  enact- 
ments of  the  statute  in  question,  there  is  one  provision,  adopted  without 
notice,  and  apparently,  without  premeditation,  which  appears  to  be  a  re- 
versal of  the  principles  which  have  hitherto  prevailed  in  our  system  of 
legislation  and  jurisprudence — a  provision  which  appears  as  injurious  and 
unjust  in  its  implications  of  a  most  useful,  worthy,  and  patriotic  class  of 
our  fellow-citizens,  as  is  the  misapprehension  of  fact  and  of  character,  on 
which  it  would  appear  to  have  been  founded.  I  shall  be  understood  as 
alluding  here  to  that  provision  of  the  late  law  of  Congress  which  assumes 
the  owners  of  steamboats  to  be  guilty  of  misconduct  and  liable  for  all  in- 
juries or  losses,  in  cases  of  injury  or  explosion  by  steam,  unless  they  may 
be  able  to  produce  satisfactory  evidence  to  the  contrary — a  task  which, 
with  the  purest  conduct  and  intentions  on  their  part,  might  often  be  ren- 
dered impossible.  It  is  sincerely  desired  that  such  a  provision  may  not 
long  be  found  in  our  statutes.  The  common  law  of  the  country  is  suffi- 
ciently relentless  and  severe  in  all  cases  of  implied  criminality,  or  even  of 
negligence;  and  a  resort  to  the  enactment  in  question  would  seem  justi- 
fiable only  in  relation  to  a  class  of  persons  who  were  universally  and 
odiously  criminal,  instead  of  a  class  who,  in  every  thing  which  consti- 
tutes private  worth  and  good  citizenship,  are  probably  not  inferior  to  most 
others  in  our  country. 

The  owners  and  constructors  of  steamvessels  have  not  been  examined 
or  consulted  by  the  committees  which  have  been  charged  with  the  prep- 
aration of  the  late  law.  Nor  have  those  persons  intruded  their  private 
opinions  and  views  upon  Congress,  nor  upon  the  public.  Still  less  have 
they  been  disposed  to  place  themselves  in  the  attitude  of  defendants,  on 
groundless  and  absurd  allegations ;  or  even  to  plead  the  great  benefits 
which  they  have  rendered,  or  the  sacrifices  which  they  have  made,  while 
engaged  in  advancing  one  of  the  most  important  interests  of  the  public 
lie  and  of  the  civilized  world.  While  the  state  of  the  country,  its  society, 
its  business,  and  enjoyments,  have  been  so  rapidly  improved  or  changed 
by  their  operations  as  to  excite  the  wonder  not  only  of  an  admiring  world, 
but  even  of  ourselves,  these  persons  have  been  content  to  labor,  through 
good  and  evil  report,  as  willing  instruments  in  the  rapid  advancement  of 
their  country  in  its  industry,  knowledge,  and  power.  Well  might  they 
have  anticipated  any  other  notice  from  the  supreme  power  of  their  coun- 
try, rather  than  the  apparently  ungracious  rebuke  which  seems  to  be  im- 
plied in  the  above  enactment. 

The  pecuniary  sacrifices  which  have  been  made  by  the  owners  of  steam- 
boats, while  thus  advancing  their  country's  best  interests,  have  been  great 


*  Other  deplorable  accidents  have  since  been  added  to  the  catalogue ;  and  these  renewed 
disasters  may  serve  to  show,  first,  that  the  remedy  does  not  lie  within  the  reach  of  the  legisla- 
ture; and,  second,  that  our  western  friends  must  relinquish  their  ultra  system  of  high  pressure, 
which  has  so  long  been  cherished  on  their  waters. 


Doc.  No.  158. 


61 


almost  beyond  example.  It  was  estimated,  some  five  years  since,  that  the 
amounts  which  had  then  been  lost  by  the  owners  of  steamboats  which 
have  navigated  the  Hudson,  this  queen  of  rivers,  were  sufficient  to  have 
constructed  a  good  railroad  between  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Albany ; 
and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  losses  have  been  at  least  propor- 
tionate in  other  sections  of  our  country.  Surely,  it  might  have  been  ex- 
pected that  this  interest,  above  all  others,  would  have  been  deemed  wor- 
thy of  the  countenance  and  protection  of  our  National  Legislature. 

In  a  reply  to  the  inquiries  of  the  honorable  Louis  McLane,  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  dated  December  23,  1831  (which  appears  as  No.  3,  in  doc- 
ument No.  478  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  1st  session  of  the  22d 
Congress),  I  have  cursorily  noticed  some  of  the  points  which  are  herein 
referred  to.  To  this  communication,  and  especially  its  concluding  re- 
marks, I  beg  leave  now  to  refer. 

Of  the  regulations  for  preventing  collisions  in  navigation,  those  which 
are  found  in  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York  are,  in  my  view,  of  far 
greater  practical  value  than  those  which  are  found  in  the  late  act  of  Con- 
gress. 

Among  those  persons  who  control  the  forms  and  modes  of  construction 
of  steam-boilers  and  engines,  there  is  found  much  variety  of  opinion  and 
practice,  which  necessarily  occasions  different  degrees  of  excellence  or  de- 
fectiveness. To  unite,  at  once,  these  various  views  in  the  most  perfectly 
approximate  system  of  security  aud  efficiency,  by  the  operation  of  a  blind 
external  power,  is  quite  impracticable.  It  is  only  by  extensive  practice 
and  patient  observation  that  so  desirable  a  result  can  be  reasonably  ex- 
pected j  and  time  is  essential  to  its  attainment.  It  is  not  unreasonable  to 
expect  that  the  period  is  rapidly  approaching  in  which  American  steam- 
boats will  as  far  exceed  those  of  other  countries  in  safety  from  explosions, 
as  they  now  do  in  practical  efficiency,  and  in  skilful  adaptation  to  the 
purposes  for  which  they  are  specifically  designed. 

Prevention  of  explosions. — In  adopting  rules  of  construction  for  boilers, 
it  should  be  considered  that  iron  is  liable  to  be  permanently  affected  by  a 
force  which  is  equal  to  only  one-third  of  that  which  is  necessary  to  pro- 
duce immediate  fracture.  The  point  of  maximum  pressure,  therefore,  at 
which  the  steam-gauges  should  be  adjusted,  so  as  to  blow  off  their  mer- 
cury, should  never  exceed  one-third  of  this  subordinate  force.  In  other 
words,  the  highest  pressure  of  steam  allowed,  under  any  circumstances, 
should  not  exceed  one-ninth  of  the  force,  which  may  be  fairly  estimated 
as  necessary  to  break  or  immediately  injure  the  boiler,  instead  of  being 
equal  to  only  one-third  or  one-half  of  this  force,  as  is  recommended  in 
Woodhouse's  edition  of  Tredgold,*  and,  as  I  am  informed,  is  usually  prac- 
tised in  England. 

Experiments,  if  deemed  necessary,  might  be  made  upon  boilers  of  the 
different  forms  of  construction  which  are  commonly  brought  into  use ;  and 
these  experiments,  together  with  the  estimated  tenacity  and  stiffness  of 
the  metal  employed,  would  serve  for  a  basis  in  estimating  the  strength  of 
any  boilers,  and  the  actual  proof  be  thus  avoided;  for,  a  proof  of  high  ten- 
sion may,  by  its  incipient  effects,  tend  to  produce,  ultimately,  the  very  dis- 
asters which  it  was  intended  to  prevent. 

Much  has  been  said  and  writtenon  the  means  of  preventing  explosions  ; 
and  if  the  efficacy  of  the  various  preventives  which  have  been  proposed, 


♦  Tredgold,  parti.,  pp.  249  250.   London:  1838. 


62 


Doc.  No.  158. 


had  only  been  equal  to  the  zeal  and  confidence  with  which  they  have  been 
sometimes  urged,  we  should  have  little  occasion  for  pursuing  the  inquiry. 

Of  the  experimental  investigations  which  have  been  made,  unconnected 
with  working  practice,  none  have  a  higher  claim  to  consideration  than 
those  made  at  Philadelphia  by  a  committee  of  the  Franklin  Institute  ;  and 
the  elaborate  report  of  this  committee  must  be  considered  as  a  document 
of  high  value  and  great  practical  utility.  The  report  of  the  committee  of 
the  American  Institute  of  this  city,  on  the  explosion  of  steam-boilers,  is 
also  a  well-reasoned  production,  indicating  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
subject  on  the  part  of  the  committee  ;  although  I  cannot  accord  to  the  im- 
plied conclusion,  that  the  use  of  steam  of  more  than  seven  pounds  pres- 
sure to  the  inch  must,  necessarily,  be  considered  as  dangerous.* 

Notwithstanding  all  which  has  been  said  and  done  on  the  subject  of 
nicely-adjusted  safety-valves  and  other  apparatus,  explosions  still  continue 
to  occur;  and  so  long  as  boilers  continue  to  be  subject  to  insidious  and  un- 
known defects,  and  the  limit  of  their  strength  is  found  to  be  too  nearly  that 
of  the  working  pressure,  they  cannot  be  expected  to  cease.  The  safety- 
valve,  and  the  mercurial  gauge,  as  now  used,  are  perfect  instruments  of 
their  kind,  and  have  all  the  adaptation  that  can  reasonable  be  desired  for 
showing  the  actual  pressure,  and  for  regulating  its  excess.  In  regard  to  the 
supply  of  water  and  its  indications,  good  pumps  of  proper  construction, 
with  the  ordinary  gauge-cocks,  glass-tubes,  and  good  attendance,  consti- 
tute the  safeguards  most  to  be  relied  on.  A  thermometrical  instrument 
might  be  added  to  the  boiler,  without  detriment.  Water-floats  and  their 
fixtures,  I  consider  as  objectionable  in  marine-boilers,  and  will  not  be 
found  practically  useful.  In  the  present  state  of  the  art,  new  inventions 
of  apparatus  do  not  appear  to  be  required, but  only  the  judicious  and  prop- 
er use  of  such  as  we  now  possess,  combined  with  boilers  of  sufficient 
strength  to  resist  successfully  all  the  ordinary  defects,  deteriorations,  and 
exposure,  which  may  arise  during  their  use,  from  inattention  or  other- 
wise. 

If  high-pressure  engines  must  continue  to  be  used  (of  which  I  see  not 
the  utility  or  necessity),  the  working  pressure  should  never  exceed  fifty 
pounds  to  the  square  inch  ;  and  this  may  be  easily  effected  by  increasing 
the  size  and  stroke  of  the  working  cylinders  and  piston. f  The  forms  of 
the  boilers  should  be  cylindrical,  and  their  diameters  from  30  to  42  inches, 
supported  by  their  centres  as  well  as  at  their  terminations.  Flues,  if  of  a 
size  affording  but  one  or  two  in  each  boiler,  are  always  dangerous  ;  they 
displace  too  much  water,  and  also  obstruct  the  proper  cleaning.  Flues, 
however,  are  not  to  be  dispensed  with  ;  but  their  number  should  be  in- 
creased, and  their  size  diminished.  An  upper  tier  of  four  flues,  and  a  lower 
tier  of  two  (the  latter  somewhat  larger  than  the  former),  are  not  too 


*  See  Journal  of  the  American  Institute,  September  1838.  p.  646. 

t  Since  the  above  was  written,  I  hare  seen  the  Report  of  Dr.  Lock,  on  the  disastrous  explo- 
sion of  the  new  high-pressure  steamboat  Moselle,  at  Cincinnati,  in  April,  18oS;  and  I  am  happy 
to  find  that  my  general  conclusions  appear  to  be  confirmed  by  the  fac:s  and  observations  which 
have  been  adduced  by  this  distinguished  friend  of  science  :  although  there  are  some  few  of  his 
positions  that  perhaps  cannot  receive  the  sanction  of  practical  engineers.  After  an  able  exam- 
ination of  the  facts  in  this  case,  Dr.  Locke  comes  to  the  conclusion,  that  "  with  probably  a  .suffi- 
cient supply  of  water  to  protect  her  flues,  and  the  safety-valve  overloaded,  the  Moselle  burst 
her  boilers  by  a  pressure  Greater  than  the  strength  of  her  bwiler  iron,  undiminished  by  heat, 
could  sustain',"— Report.  <f-c  ,  p.  52.  Cin.  1838. 


Doc.  No.  15S. 


63 


many  for  boilers  of  42  inches  diameter,  or  of  44  to  4S  inches,  if  low  pressure. 
These  smaller  flues,  if  properly  arranged,  will  greatly  facilitate  the  clean- 
ing, and  displace  but  little  water ;  but  their  length  should  not  usually  ex- 
ceed ten  or  twelve  feet,  as  they  abstract  the  heat  very  rapidly,  owing  to 
their  small  size.  They  will  be  better  if  made  perfectly  smooth  on  their 
inner  surface,  from  a  single  long  sheet  of  iron,  lighter  than  the  shell ;  and 
are  not  often  liable  to  leaks  or  accidents.  The  outer  shell  should  never  be 
less  in  thickness  than  a  full  quarter  of  an  inch ;  and  a  thickness  much 
exceeding  this,  it  is  well  known,  cannot  be  used  with  advantage. 

In  condensing  engines,  which  work  expansively,  called  low  pressure, 
when  working  with  ordinary  speed,  the  pressure  of  steam  should  usually 
ran2:e  between  one  and  one  a  half  atmospheres  above  the  boiling  point. 
But  on  emergencies,  the  pressure  may  be  increased  to  two  atmospheres. 
The  boilers  should  have  a  range  of  strength  foiling  but  little  short  of  those 
used  for  high  pressure.  They  may  be  constructed  of  the  common  wagon- 
top  form,  provided  that  they  are  properly  braced  in  their  flat  sides  and 
arches,  and  have  as  many  as  four  or  six  flue-arches  for  a  boiler  of  eight  or 
ten  feet  in  width.  The  returning  flues  should  be  cylindrical,  and  of  smal- 
ler diameter.  The  water- sides,  water-bottoms,  bridge- walls,  and  all  other 
flat  surfaces,  should,  however,  be  brace-bolted  at  intervals  of  six  inches; 
and  the  arches,  shell,  and  all  other  portions,  secured  in  a  proportionate 
manner.  If  a  steam-cltimney  is  used,  even  of  the  circular  form,  it  should 
be  brace-bolted  at  smaller  intervals  than  any  part  of  the  flat  surfaces  which 
are  covered  by  water. 

Flat  water-sides,  ends,  and  bridge-walls,  if  rightly  constructed,  may  be 
adoped  with  great  safety  and  advantage  for  high-pressure  boilers;  but  the 
brace-bolts,  in  these  cases,  should  be  at  intervals  of  one  to  Jive  inches. 
Good  brace -bolts  of  iron,  eleven-sixteenths  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  with 
light  sockets,  if  the  same  are  well  and  securely  driven,  will  be  sufficient.* 
These  water-sides  and  ends  may  be  so  worked  on  to  the  cylindrical  por- 
tions of  the  boilers  as  to  form  one  structure,  in  which  a  greater  circulation 
may  be  provided  for,  and  much  of  the  ordinary  sediment  be  prevented 
from  becoming  injurious  to  the  boilers.  The  same  principle  of  construc- 
tion may  also  be  adopted  for  low  pressure,  as  has  been  done  in  the  boiler 
which  has  been  used  in  the  steamboat  Oliver  Ellsworth  since  1S33;  but 
in  such  case  the  cylindrical  portions  or  shells  may  have  a  diameter  of  44 
to  4S  inches.  The  boiler  -heads  should  in  all  cases  be  of  wrought  or  rolled 
iron,  of  extra  thickness  and  securely  braced.  An  addition,  in  the  form  of 
a  truncated  cone,  may  be  affixed  on  the  top  of  each  cylindrical  portion,  in 
order  to  increase  the  steam-room  and  to  communicate  with  the  steam-pipe. 
The  top  or  head  of  this  appendage  may  be  of  cast  iron,  and  calculated  to 
receive  the  man-hole  plate  and  safety-valve. 

For  low-pressure  boilers,  the  general  form  of  the  locomotive  boilers y 
with  numerous  small  flues,  has  been  successfully  adopted.  For  these 
boilers,  if  the  requisite  provisions  for  strength  be  carefully  attended  to, 
copper  may  sometimes  be  admissible  ;  but  in  this  case,  the  securities  should 
greatly  exceed  those  of  an  iron  boiler  of  the  same  general  construction. 

In  specifying  these  methods  of  construction,  no  new  or  untried  plans 


*  These  brace-bolts  are  befer  to  be  screwed  in,  -without  sockets  ;  aud  afterward  riveted,  with) 
ot  without  an  outside  nut  or  screw-head. 


64 


Doc.  No.  158. 


hnve  been  suggested;  but  only  those  of  known  advantage  and  efficiency, 
such  as  have  fallen  within  my  own  observation  or  practice. 

In  the  use  of  muddy  or  salt  water,  the  blow-off  cock  should  be  fre- 
cpientlv  and  freely  used.  Condensation  in  a  multiplicity  of  pipes,  and  the 
use  of  the  distilled  water  thus  obtained,  on  the  plan  which  Mr.  Hall  has 
introduced  in  England,  will  probably  be  found  attended  with  more  ad- 
vantages than  inconvenience,  particularly  in  sea  voyages. 

Boilers  should  at  all  times  be  kept  free  from  sediment,  and  the  riveted 
joints,  especially  those  which  are  exposed  to  the  fire,  should  be  made  sub- 
ject to  frequent  and  careful  examinations,  and  the  smallest  appearance  of 
leakage  in  these  should  receive  immediate  attention. 

But,  with  all  these  precautions,  it  is  possible  that  accidents  of  a  serious 
character  may  sometimes  happen  to  steamboats,  as  well  as  to  ships,  bridges, 
carriages,  and  other  structures,  in  which  much  care  and  attention  have 
been  given  to  the  best  means  of  security. 

Should  the  facts,  however,  which  have  fallen  within  my  knowledge  or 
observation,  as  set  forth  in  this  communication,  or  the  conclusions  derived 
therefrom,  contribute,  in  any  degree,  to  the  correction  of  prevailing  errors 
of  theory  or  opinion,  and  cause  a  greater  reliance  to  be  placed  upon  the 
most  available  of  all  remedies,  namely,  a  proper  increase  in  the  strength  of 
boilers^  together  with  the  abandonment  of  the  higher  degrees  of  pressure, 
and  thus  secure  a  greater  degree  of  safety  to  the  travelling  public,  my  ob- 
ject in  thus  responding  to  the  call  of  Congress  will  be  happily  attained. 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

WILLIAM  C.  REDFIELD. 

Hon.  Levi  Woodbury, 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury 


